]]>Senate Democrats, digging in their heels Friday over health benefits for coal miners, threatened to shut down the government over the weekend for lack of a short-term spending agreement by a midnight deadline.

“It is my sincere hope that our final vote of 2016 is not indicative of how we will operate in 2017,” @RepMarkWalker says.

But Friday evening Democrats gave in, Politico reported, saying they would fight on in the New Year but not be held responsible for shutting down the government.

“We’re not going to shut down the government. We’re going to keep it open,” Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the incoming minority leader, said.

The House voted overwhelmingly Thursday, 326-96, to pass the stopgap spending bill to keep the government running through April 28, when Donald Trump will have been in the White House for more than three months.

In the Senate, however, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., led a fight to secure a one-year extension of health benefits for miners, rather than the four months provided by the short-term measure lawmakers call a continuing resolution.

“We need to bring attention to the people who have done the work. They’re forgotten heroes,” Manchin said at one point.

Manchin and other Democrats said they would vote against the short-term spending bill, Politico reported, but it was expected to clear the Senate late Friday night.

We’ve tried to negotiate, tried to compromise & find a path forward so right now I’m going to have to oppose the #CRhttps://t.co/tKKaXJAGiJ

Manchin, reportedly under consideration for secretary of energy or another post in the Trump administration, postponed a scheduled Friday meeting with the president-elect until Monday.

The new fiscal year began Oct. 1, but both chambers in late September approved a resolution funding the government through Dec. 9 at the current $1.07 trillion level. That deal was set to expire at midnight as Friday became Saturday.

President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team last month called for Congress to pass the stopgap spending measure until lawmakers could take up a longer-term bill in the weeks after Trump is sworn in as president Jan. 20.

Conservatives such as Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C., argue that the continuing resolution practice should not be a standard mode of operation.

“Though this outcome was preferable to a larger, long-term spending bill, it is my sincere hope that our final vote of 2016 is not indicative of how we will operate in 2017,” Walker said in a prepared statement Thursday after the House vote.

Walker was one of 33 Republicans to vote no before the House adjourned and lawmakers went home for the Christmas holidays.

“This bill is a far cry from how our government should be funded and what priorities should be appropriated,” he said.

Conservatives especially focused on several key areas of policy, among them:

Anti-Terror Operations

The continuing resolution allocates $10.1 billion for what the Obama administration calls “overseas contingency operations,” a supplemental fund that provides money to the Pentagon and State Department related to fighting terrorism in the Middle East and elsewhere abroad.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.,chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the continuing resolution does not adequately support the needs of the military.

Those who supported a short-term spending bill are “harming the military and will do great damage to the military and our ability to defend the nation,” McCain told reporters last month.

21st Century Cures Act

The continuing resolution includes $872 million for the 21st Century Cures Act, designed to expedite the drug-approval procedures of the Food and Drug Administration.

It eventually would earmark “billions to the National Institutes of Health, in part to combat cancer and invest in precision medicine,” Politico reported.

The bill includes a waiver of existing law requiring that any member of the military must be retired for seven years before becoming secretary of defense.

This waiver is designed to allow Trump’s pick for secretary of defense, retired Marine Gen. James Mattis, to be nominated and confirmed even though he has been retired for only three years.

Export-Import Bank

Notably, the continuing resolution did not contain a provision designed to prop up the Export-Import Bank, a significant victory for conservatives who want to pull the plug on the government bank that provides loans and loan guarantees for foreign buyers of U.S. goods.

Some lawmakers, including Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., a member of the House Financial Services Committee, said the move would be “completely inappropriate,” as one board member could be responsible for allocating millions of dollars in loans.

The use of a continuing resolution to keep the government running remains distasteful to many conservative lawmakers because they say it ignores problems that deserve immediate attention and action.

“A continuing resolution is nothing different than taking last year’s appropriations bills, just changing the date on it and moving it over to this year, so it doesn’t address the areas of overspending, it doesn’t surgically go in and be able to change things like an appropriations bill does,” Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., said Thursday in an interview with C-SPAN.

Lankford said he believes the short-term spending bill is a vehicle for neglecting to solve inevitable problems.

“A continuing resolution, or a CR as it is often called here in D.C., just takes out [the spending level for] last year, [and] moves it over to this year, regardless of the things that have been discovered that were problems in the last year or regardless of new priorities that we may have for the coming year,” he said.

The office of Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., chairman of the House Budget Committee and Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, noted that Congress has failed to pass a budget in six of the past 10 years.

Aides to Price, who did not vote on the stopgap spending bill, tweeted out a chart reminding Americans that in 18 of the past 20 years, Congress relied on a yearlong continuing resolution or omnibus spending bill to fund the government rather than the regular appropriations process:

]]>http://dailysignal.com/2016/12/09/senate-democrats-retreat-allowing-spending-bill-to-averting-government-shutdown/feed/0Cartoon: Who’s in a Pickle? Not ISIShttp://dailysignal.com/2016/12/09/cartoon-whos-in-a-pickle-not-isis/
http://dailysignal.com/2016/12/09/cartoon-whos-in-a-pickle-not-isis/#respondFri, 09 Dec 2016 16:30:35 +0000http://dailysignal.com/?p=302924The post Cartoon: Who’s in a Pickle? Not ISIS appeared first on The Daily Signal.
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]]>http://dailysignal.com/2016/12/09/cartoon-whos-in-a-pickle-not-isis/feed/0In Texas, Republicans Fight New Sanctuary Cities in Wake of Trump Victoryhttp://dailysignal.com/2016/12/08/in-texas-republicans-fight-new-sanctuary-cities-in-wake-of-trump-victory/
http://dailysignal.com/2016/12/08/in-texas-republicans-fight-new-sanctuary-cities-in-wake-of-trump-victory/#respondThu, 08 Dec 2016 22:42:22 +0000http://dailysignal.com/?p=302852In the border state of Texas, the Republican governor and state Legislature are promising to combat a new trend since the election of Donald Trump,... Read More

]]>In the border state of Texas, the Republican governor and state Legislature are promising to combat a new trend since the election of Donald Trump, in which cities and localities vow to limit how much they assist federal authorities with removing immigrants living illegally in their communities.

Sally Hernandez, the Democratic sheriff-elect in Travis County, home to the liberal state capital of Austin, ran on a platform opposing cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) when it seeks to deport illegal immigrants held in the county jail.

“The sheriff’s office will not be part of a deportation force that sacrifices hundreds and thousands of people, our neighbors, to a broken federal immigration system,” Hernandez said during a Nov. 17 press conference.

She and other city and county elected officials told reporters they wanted to address residents’ “safety concerns” since Trump’s election.

If Hernandez fulfills her pledge, Austin would become the state’s first official sanctuary city, a move that would put her at odds with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and the Republican-led Legislature. Both plan to pursue policies punishing localities that won’t help the federal government enforce immigration law.

“Governor Abbott looks forward to signing a bill banning sanctuary cities in the state of Texas,”John Wittman, Abbott’s press secretary, said in an interview with The Daily Signal.

The fight in Texas shows how states and cities are defining their own policies in anticipation of Trump’s fulfilling his aggressive campaign promises to crack down on immigration enforcement—including his vow to block federal funding from sanctuary cities.

Withholding Funds

Local governments of cities such as the District of Columbia, Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, and Boston have said they will not change policies that limit their cooperation with immigration-related requests from the federal government.

The Daily Signal previously reported that Trump has broad tools to encourage localities to play a more proactive role in immigration enforcement.

Republican governors and legislators, emboldened by Trump’s victory, also have ways to coerce cities and counties into working with ICE.

Last year, Abbott announced a policy of withholding certain criminal justice grants from sheriff’s offices that do not fulfill requests from ICE to help federal authorities deport illegal immigrants in local custody.

Wittman said that since the policy’s implementation in November 2015, the governor has not blocked any funding because all local jurisdictions in Texas complied with his order.

But that hasn’t stopped state Republican lawmakers from trying to pass laws punishing sanctuary cities.

Last month, state Sen. Charles Perry filed legislation that would deny state grants to local jurisdictions that do not help the federal government enforce immigration law.

Previous versions of the bill failed to make it out of the Senate, but Perry’s latest legislation is supported by Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, also a Republican.

“I have no doubt this will be one of the earliest bills passed by the Senate this session [beginning Jan. 10],” Perry told The Daily Signal in an interview. “Federal and state politicians should have a remedy of reducing or removing discretionary funding if local jurisdictions are found to have policies explicitly harboring criminal aliens.”

Local Backlash

Yet Trump’s victory has inspired some local Texas leaders to guard against his potential policies.

In Harris County, where Houston is located, Sheriff-elect Ed Gonzalez, a Democrat, campaigned on ending his county’s participation in an ICE program known as 287(g).

That program permits local law enforcement to alert federal authorities when they have suspected illegal immigrants in the county jail, and ask about the immigration status of those they arrest.

Javier Salazar, the newly elected Democratic sheriff of Bexar County, which includes San Antonio, also hinted during his campaign that he would forbid deputies from inquiring about immigration status.

The 287(g) program is controversial, and there are just 32 jurisdictions across the country currently involved with it, but Trump has expressed support for bolstering these partnerships.

In 2012, the Obama administration scrapped an aspect of the program that essentially deputized state and local law enforcement as immigration agents who are allowed to make arrests related to immigration status.

Trump has called 287(g) a “popular” program that he would like to “expand and revitalize.”

“I expect the Trump administration’s Department of Homeland Security to strengthen and expand the 287(g) program,” said David Inserra, a policy analyst at The Heritage Foundation, who supports the program. “Because that program is a memo of understanding from DHS to state and local governments, there is nothing holding the Trump administration back from expanding 287(g) to as far as the budget will allow, and they could request more funding for it.”

Immigration experts have speculated that Trump could bring back another contentious local enforcement program, called Secure Communities, as a way of expanding deportations.

In Secure Communities, federal immigration agents asked local law enforcement agencies to keep illegal immigrants in custody for 48 hours longer than usual so they could be picked up and deported. These requests were known as detainers.

The Obama administration revamped Secure Communities in 2014, asking that local authorities notify ICE only when they plan to release someone from jail whom the government seeks to deport.

It also limited who ICE targets for deportation to illegal immigrants considered to be threats to national security and public safety, those convicted of a felony or multiple misdemeanors, and recent border crossers.

Split Sanctuary

Adrian Garcia, a Democrat who was Harris County’s sheriff from 2009 to 2015, said local law enforcement is not legally obligated to help ICE enforce immigration law.

Garcia warns that state politicians using the threat of withholding money to encourage local assistance with immigration enforcement are putting communities at risk.

“It makes no damn sense, you would hinder agencies from doing their job and catching the people we’re all worried about,” Garcia told The Daily Signal in an interview, adding:

This is a bogus position by the governor and others. A sanctuary implies if you do something wrong, nothing happens to you. In Harris County, if you hurt somebody or rob somebody, you go to jail and you are held accountable. There is no sanctuary in that. So they ought to let law enforcement do their jobs and decide on policies best for their communities.

But A.J. Louderback, the Republican sheriff of Jackson County and legislative director of the Sheriffs’ Association of Texas, said law enforcement shouldn’t risk releasing people ICE wants to deport.

“Any sheriff who has a jail needs to work with the federal government on deporting criminal foreign-born individuals who are in the country illegally,” Louderback told The Daily Signal in an interview. “I hope sincerely that each of the new sheriffs that come in will do their job and take their constitutional oath seriously. Our responsibility is to protect our public from criminal activity.”

]]>http://dailysignal.com/2016/12/08/in-texas-republicans-fight-new-sanctuary-cities-in-wake-of-trump-victory/feed/0How States Can Shape Obamacare’s Replacementhttp://dailysignal.com/2016/12/08/how-states-can-shape-obamacares-replacement/
http://dailysignal.com/2016/12/08/how-states-can-shape-obamacares-replacement/#respondThu, 08 Dec 2016 20:17:42 +0000http://dailysignal.com/?p=302756As Republicans prepare to hammer out the details of a replacement for Obamacare, governors and state insurance commissioners are asking for a seat at the... Read More

]]>As Republicans prepare to hammer out the details of a replacement for Obamacare, governors and state insurance commissioners are asking for a seat at the table.

Under the Affordable Care Act, much of the regulatory framework that in the past fell to states and their respective insurance commissioners was transferred to the federal government, which created blanket mandates for both consumers and insurers.

But as Republicans have begun discussions of repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act—with action coming as early as January—states and their executive branches have the opportunity to help map out the future health insurance market.

“There’s going to be the opportunity to say we can actually start from scratch, but we’ve been in the mode of trying to work within the parameters of the immense amount of regulation under the Affordable Care Act that it’s difficult to switch gears and think about things in a whole new light,” Mia Heck, director of the health and human services task force at the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, told The Daily Signal.

“It’s a great problem to have, but it’s just a lot to think about,” Heck continued.

In recent years, policymakers have been dealing with “top-down framework” for the health care market, that being the Affordable Care Act, Heck said. But now that Republicans are gearing up to repeal the law and pass a replacement plan, there’s an opportunity for states—and ALEC—to have a seat at the table.

“We’re going to have the opportunity to talk about what would be best for states so they can increase competition and choice in their health care markets, which will result in lower costs and better quality of care,” Heck said. “It’s an exciting time in health care.”

Already, state executives are making it known that they want to play a visible role in shaping Obamacare’s replacement.

“Governors will be very, very active and engaged,” Frederick Isasi, who oversees health policy at the National Governors Association, told The Hill. “They really are one of the few groups who are, in this very tangible day-to-day way, are living the results of the policies.”

And congressional leaders are heeding their calls.

Last week, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, along with the current chairs and incoming chairs of three House committees, sent a letter to governors and insurance commissioners asking for their help with crafting Obamacare’s replacement.

“Our values, based on the principles of federalism, drive a philosophy that states should have the freedom and flexibility to create options that are best for patients,” the lawmakers wrote. “Insurers should compete for consumer business and treat patients fairly. And Americans should have access to the best life-saving treatments in the world.

“Working as a team, with your help and creative ideas, we can achieve our mutual goal of putting patients first.”

Back to the States

Though GOP lawmakers are still in the process of mapping out their blueprint for Obamacare’s repeal and replacement, health policy experts say lawmakers in Washington need to eliminate the insurance regulations enacted at the federal level that the Affordable Care Act put in place.

“Historically, the regulation of health insurance has been left up to the states, so what the state of Vermont decides to do with health insurance regulations and benefits can be very different from what the state of Arizona decides,” Rea Hederman, executive vice president at the Buckeye Institute in Ohio, told The Daily Signal.

“What the Affordable Care Act did was wipe away decades of experience at the state level managing insurance,” he continued.

Among the insurance regulations included in the health care law was the essential health benefits package, a list of 10 services that all insurance plans were required to cover.

But if Congress follows through on its promise to repeal Obamacare, states and their insurance commissioners could once again manage their own insurance plans and regulations, Heck and Hederman agreed.

“[Congress] needs to return [to states] the traditional responsibility of determining what is the right plan for their citizens that states have always enjoyed,” Hederman said.

Like the essential health benefits package, the Affordable Care Act also changed the rating rules insurers were required to adhere to. The health care law prohibited insurers from limiting or denying coverage to those with pre-existing conditions and limited how much insurers could price premiums based on age.

But if states were given the authority to control insurance regulations, they could adjust their rating rules, Heck said.

“They’re going to have a lot to take into consideration,” she said of state lawmakers, “because it’s going to be a whole new opportunity to determine what their health insurance regulatory framework should look like.”

In addition to giving governors and insurance commissioners the authority to craft insurance regulations based on their own jurisdictions, an Obamacare repeal will allow states to implement their own Medicaid reforms.

Congress passed a bill earlier this year repealing key provisions of Obamacare, including the Medicaid expansion, and if a repeal bill passed in 2017 included a rollback of Medicaid expansion, states would then have more authority over the design of the program, Heck said.

Already, some state lawmakers are looking forward to changes to the Medicaid program.

Maine state Sen. Eric Brakey, a Republican who chairs the Health and Human Services Committee, said he would like to see Medicaid turned into block grants or allow beneficiaries to set up health savings accounts.

“Anything we can do to put the purchasing power back in the hands of the patient,” Brakey told The Daily Signal.

House Speaker Paul Ryan and House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price, R-Ga., who President-elect Donald Trump nominated to serve as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, already advocate turning Medicaid into a state block grant program.

Health policy experts, meanwhile, say states should be encouraged to use existing and new waivers to change their Medicaid programs.

One such waiver, Section 1332, was implemented under the Affordable Care Act and exempts states from provisions of the health care law. States are then allowed to pursue new approaches to health care.

During debate over the waivers, the bipartisan National Governors Association encouraged the Obama administration to provide states with the “flexibility needed” to pursue them.

But late last year, the Department of Health and Human Services implemented strict regulations on proposals submitted by states, which limited their ability for reforms.

A second waiver, Section 1115, was implemented under the Social Security Act and allows states to use Medicaid dollars in ways not permitted under federal rules.

Under a Trump administration, health policy experts say they’d like to see more flexibility from the executive branch in terms of the reforms states can pursue using the waivers.

By using Section 1115 waivers, states could potentially implement work requirements for Medicaid recipients or ask them to pay premiums, Hederman said.

But by using a Section 1332 waiver, which Hederman said would need to be revamped, states could “regain control of their health insurance market from the federal government.”

“I’ve told state legislators they need to be ready. They need to be ready for repeal, and they need to be ready for a lot more flexibility with the Medicaid program,” Hederman said. “Take a look at using the 1115 and revamped 1332 waiver to maximum state freedom in the health care market.”

Though congressional leaders haven’t signaled whether they plan to include the Section 1332 waivers in an Obamacare replacement plan, McCarthy asked governors and insurance commissioners to gauge their interest in pursuing them next year.

Still, Republicans in Congress are continuing discussions over how to repeal Obamacare, and they haven’t yet presented a plan that would replace the law.

But McCarthy’s letter, coupled with the urging of the National Governors Association, suggests that states will play a greater role in mapping out the new proposal.

“The one-size-fits-all solution that the Affordable Care Act implemented has not worked,” Hederman said. “The evidence is in, and the [Affordable Care Act] did not work. Let’s give the insurance authority back to the states to best meet the needs of the population.”

]]>President-elect Donald Trump intends to pick Andy Puzder, a fast-food executive, to serve as secretary of the Department of Labor, according to news reports.

Puzder is the CEO of CKE Restaurants, which is the parent company of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s. Upon receiving formal nomination from the president-elect following Trump’s inauguration, he’ll need to be confirmed by the Senate.

Puzder served as a senior policy adviser to Trump and also contributed to the real estate mogul during the campaign. He is also a former donor to The Heritage Foundation, the sister organization of The Daily Signal, having contributed in 2011 and 2014.

The restaurant executive has been the CEO of CKE Restaurants since September 2000, and over the years, he’s been vocal in opposing the Affordable Care Act and campaigns to raise the minimum wage.

Both, he’s said in the past, negatively impact employment.

Democrats and labor unions have pushed for raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, but opponents like Puzder say such an increase will lead to higher prices and fewer jobs.

Instead, the fast-food executive told CNBC in May that a $9 an hour minimum wage would have “minimal impact” on job losses. CKE Restaurants, he said, already pays its employees an average of $11 an hour.

In addition to speaking about how raising the minimum wage could lead to a reduction in employment opportunities, Puzder has also warned that wage hikes will cause more employers to turn to automation.

In a March interview with Business Insider, the fast-food executive said that restaurants are beginning to replace workers with machines in response to minimum wage hikes implemented at the state level.

During the interview, Puzder said automation wasn’t something he was ruling out at his own restaurants.

“With government driving up the cost of labor, it’s driving down the number of jobs,” he said. “You’re going to see automation not just in airports and grocery stores, but in restaurants.”

Puzder has also advocated eliminating regulations, many of which he said have prevented businesses in the restaurant industry—which represents 10 percent of the workforce—from growing.

During a 2011 event at The Heritage Foundation, Puzder lamented how regulations stifle innovation and growth, and he said that such rules are “dampening the entrepreneurial spirit.”

“Business is presently being held back by what’s called the uncertainty factor,” Puzder said at the time. “There are always uncertainties in a business plan. You never know exactly how things are going to work out. But in the current climate, you have absolutely no idea what could happen in the next five years. It’s extremely capricious.”

According to The New York Times, he has less government experience than any labor secretary since President Ronald Reagan’s administration.

In the early 1980s, Reagan selected Raymond Donovan, a construction executive, to lead the department.

Puzder has been involved in the restaurant industry since the early 1990s, when he first met Carl Karcher, the founder of Carl’s Jr.

In 1995, he became an executive vice president and general counsel for Fidelity National Financial and then served as the CEO of the Santa Barbara Restaurant Group.

The fast-food executive began working for CKE Restaurants in 1997, when he was named the company’s executive vice president and general counsel.

Now, as CEO of CKE Restaurants, Puzder and the company oversee more than 3,750 restaurants in the United States with more than 100,000 employees.

In addition to leading CKE Restaurants, Puzder also sits on the board of directors for the International Franchise Association, a trade group representing franchise establishments.

In 2010, Puzder co-wrote the book “Job Creation: How It Really Works and Why Government Doesn’t Understand It.”

Puzder graduated with a law degree from Washington University School of Law. He lives in Franklin, Tennessee, with his wife, Dee. They have six children.

]]>http://dailysignal.com/2016/12/08/meet-the-minimum-wage-hikes-opponent-trump-picked-to-lead-labor-department/feed/0What African-Americans Have to Gain From a Trump Presidencyhttp://dailysignal.com/2016/12/08/what-african-americans-have-to-gain-from-a-trump-presidency/
http://dailysignal.com/2016/12/08/what-african-americans-have-to-gain-from-a-trump-presidency/#respondThu, 08 Dec 2016 15:59:32 +0000http://dailysignal.com/?p=302631A lot of strong words were thrown about in this year’s presidential campaign, but few packed as powerful a punch as a single question that... Read More

]]>A lot of strong words were thrown about in this year’s presidential campaign, but few packed as powerful a punch as a single question that Donald Trump asked black voters in August.

“What do you have to lose?”

The pundits didn’t seem to understand, but many of us knew exactly what he meant. While the black community has much to celebrate, including its rich culture, spirit of strength, accomplishments, and progress in some areas, many African-Americans are suffering.

Children who should be thriving are instead living in broken homes. Poverty that should be shrinking is instead rising. Streets that should be peaceful are instead rocked by violence. Schools that should be nurturing excellence are instead factories of failure. And seniors who deserve security instead fear what tomorrow may bring.

It wasn’t always this way. In the mid-1900s, for example, poverty in the black community dropped by nearly 50 percent, and skilled tradesmen saw their income more than double relative to whites.

Today, unemployment and poverty rates among African-Americans are nearly twice the national average, and 12 million blacks—including 4 million of our children—live in poverty.

Things are bad on the education front as well. Today, fewer than half of all black students in many large U.S. cities graduate from high school. Just as shocking, the math achievement gap between black and white students has not changed in decades and has actually widened in reading.

And consider what’s happened to our families. As hard as it may be to believe, the marriage rate among blacks used to be higher than it was among whites.

As recently as 1960, more than 7 of every 10 black kids were being raised by both their mother and father. Today, fewer than half of them are. In fact, nearly 5 million black children today live in homes without one or both of their parents.

Now, I realize a lot of professional politicians choose to ignore these facts, but, within the black community, we don’t. Because we can’t.

That’s why many of us understood what Trump was asking.

I truly believe that there is broad agreement on the need for change. Republicans and Democrats alike want to see our education system fixed so all children can achieve their full potential.

They want to see health care disparities eliminated so all babies are born healthy and no senior dies for lack of access to quality health care. They want to see jobs created, poverty defeated, and our economy flourish. And they want to see our streets safe, our families strong, and our future bright.

That said, Republicans and Democrats have some very different ideas about how to make those things happen.

Ever since President Lyndon Johnson waged his “War on Poverty” over half a century ago, the Democrats’ approach has been to spend trillions of dollars on nearly 100 government programs. Fifty years later, we’re now worse off in many respects than we were before the War on Poverty began.

And so Trump appealed to the black community to try a different approach.

It won’t be easy, of course. Some will disparage Trump’s message and intent right out of the gate because they’ve been told they can only trust Democrats. Others will accuse Trump and his agenda of being “racist” or “bigoted” just because they know those words have an incendiary effect.

But I find it striking that no one disagrees that America’s course must be changed. Because, nasty politics and fiery rhetoric aside, even Trump’s most panicked critics know deep down what most Americans have been consistently telling pollsters: Our nation has been on the wrong track.

As the old saying goes, insanity means doing the same thing over and over again, each time expecting different results. Well, we’ve tried one government program after another and we’ve thrown piles of money and mountains of regulations at the problems plaguing our community. But the problems just keep getting worse.

Fortunately, a lot of new talent is coming to Washington, D.C. People with deep compassion, vast experience, and a willingness to put their lives on hold while they help America get back on track. I’ve met many of these people, and each time I do, I feel a renewed sense of optimism about our country’s future.

Like me, they are driven by a desire to eliminate poverty, create jobs, fix broken schools, improve our health, and heal our families. Their focus isn’t solely on the black community, but every policy that is good for all Americans has the potential to be especially positive for African-Americans because of how far we’ve fallen.

The stage has been set with new players and bold ideas. Their sleeves are rolled up and their purpose is clear.

Now it’s up to us. We can criticize and attack, as some are already doing even before Trump takes the oath of office. We can hurl ugly insults and take to the streets, as many have been doing. Or we can keep our hearts and minds open, lend a hand whenever needed, give good people time to do the good we need done, and join hands and forces to realize something Dr. Martin Luther King said long ago: “We have an opportunity to make America a better nation,” he told us, “to make America what it ought to be.”

King was right. We do have that opportunity—right now. And understanding both what we have to lose as well as all that we have to gain is a great place to start.

If nominated and confirmed, Kelly would join a Cabinet that already promises to be well represented by military figures.

Trump has announced his selections of retired Marine Gen. James N. Mattis for secretary of defense and retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn for national security adviser.

“That would be the third general in the top echelon of the emerging Trump administration, indicating his preference for military experience, expertise, and accountability,” Major Garrett, chief White House correspondent for CBS News, said in discussing Trump’s choice of Kelly.

Kelly has served for over 40 years in the military and recently retired from his role as commander of U.S. Southern Command, or Southcom.

U.S. Southern Command, according to the Department of Defense, oversees “all Defense Department security cooperation in the 45 nations and territories of Central and South America and the Caribbean Sea, an area of 16 million square miles.”

In this role, Kelly acknowledged the widespread issue of drug trafficking and said he believes in continuing a partnership with Colombia to end drug trafficking, a debate he will likely have to revisit during confirmation hearings for the Department of Homeland Security job.

“Let’s not throw away a success story,” Kelly said during a Pentagon news conference in January, speaking about Colombia’s partnership with the U.S. in fighting drug trafficking, according to an article published by the Defense Department. “We have to stand and continue Plan Colombia, in my opinion, for another 10 years.”

Kelly also says that he is devoted to fighting terrorism, and that attacks similar to 9/11 are likely to happen again.

“Given the opportunity to do another 9/11, our vicious enemy would do it today, tomorrow, and every day thereafter,” Kelly said in 2013 during a Memorial Day address, according to a tweet by a Washington Post reporter.

“I don’t know why they hate us, and frankly I don’t care, but they do hate us and are driven irrationally to our destruction,” Kelly said.

Kelly’s dedication to the military has not come without sacrifices, however.

Kelly’s son, Marine 1st Lt. Robert Michael Kelly, died after he stepped on a concealed bomb in Afghanistan in 2010, making the senior Kelly “the highest-ranking military officer to lose a son or daughter in Iraq or Afghanistan,” according to The New York Times.

During his son’s funeral, Kelly said that terrorism is “an enemy that is as savage as any that ever walked the earth,” the Los Angeles Times reported.

“Our nation is still at war, and I think will be for years, if not decades to come,” Kelly said. “It may be inconvenient to some, but I think it is reality. It is not in our power to end it but simply to fight it until our murderous enemy who hates us with visceral disgust for everything we stand for either gives up or we kill them.”

]]>http://dailysignal.com/2016/12/07/trump-picks-retired-marine-general-as-homeland-security-secretary/feed/0Trump’s Pick for EPA Has a History of Fighting the Agencyhttp://dailysignal.com/2016/12/07/trumps-pick-for-epa-has-a-history-of-fighting-the-agency/
http://dailysignal.com/2016/12/07/trumps-pick-for-epa-has-a-history-of-fighting-the-agency/#commentsWed, 07 Dec 2016 23:09:11 +0000http://dailysignal.com/?p=302619President-elect Donald Trump reportedly has nominated Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency. Pruitt is known for waging legal battles against the... Read More

Pruitt is known for waging legal battles against the EPA over its climate change agenda, suggesting that Trump could intend to make good on his promise to “get rid of [the agency] in almost every form.”

Pruitt, a Republican, led the charge in the states’ fight against what he considers an overreach by the EPA on issues including the Clean Power Plan, which aims to combat global warming; the Waters of the United States rule, which aims to protect wetlands and waterways; and the Renewable Fuel Standard, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

He has publicly expressed skepticism about climate change science, and supports the notion that the debate is “far from settled.”

The possibility of undoing a series of rules and regulations established under the Obama administration immediately caused alarm among green groups on the left.

“The mission of the EPA and its administrator requires an absolute commitment to safeguard public health and protect our air, land, water, and planet,” said Rhea Suh, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council. “If confirmed, Pruitt seems destined for the environmental hall of shame.”

“Having Scott Pruitt in charge of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is like putting an arsonist in charge of fighting fires,” added Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club. “He is a climate science denier who, as attorney general for the state of Oklahoma, regularly conspired with the fossil fuel industry to attack EPA protections.”

Karl Rove, a former senior adviser under the George W. Bush administration, came to Pruitt’s defense, congratulating Trump “on another superb pick.”

“About time for sensible regulator again at such powerful agency,” Rove tweeted.

Congrats Pres-elect Trump on another superb pick: OK AG Scott Pruitt for EPA. About time for sensible regulator again @ such powerful agency

Pruitt has been criticized for having cozy relationships with energy companies. In 2014, The New York Times reported a letter he sent to the EPA was written “almost entirely” by Devon Energy, a natural gas and petroleum producer.

But in the face of criticism, Pruitt responded: “It should come as no surprise that I am working diligently with Oklahoma energy companies, the people of Oklahoma, and the majority of attorneys general to fight the unlawful overreach of the EPA and other federal agencies.”

Pruitt, who serves in one of the biggest oil and natural gas states in the country, has also been active in defending companies who express skepticism about climate change science.

In March, a group of state attorneys general formed a coalition to “criminally investigate energy companies for disputing the science behind global warming.”

Pruitt, along with Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange, came to the defense of the companies. In a statement, they voiced strong opposition to a coalition they said is an attempt to “use the law to silence voices with which we disagree.”

“Reasonable minds can disagree about the science behind global warming, and disagree they do,” Pruitt and Strange said in a statement. “This scientific and political debate is healthy, and it should be encouraged. It should not be silenced with threats of criminal prosecution by those who believe that their position is the only correct one and that all dissenting voices must therefore be intimidated and coerced into silence.”

Pruitt was elected as attorney general in Oklahoma in 2010, and before that served as a conservative in the Oklahoma state Senate.

]]>http://dailysignal.com/2016/12/07/trumps-pick-for-epa-has-a-history-of-fighting-the-agency/feed/1Top House Republican Proposes Aggressive Plan to Help Trump Fight Terrorismhttp://dailysignal.com/2016/12/07/top-house-republican-proposes-aggressive-plan-to-help-trump-fight-terrorism/
http://dailysignal.com/2016/12/07/top-house-republican-proposes-aggressive-plan-to-help-trump-fight-terrorism/#respondWed, 07 Dec 2016 21:47:45 +0000http://dailysignal.com/?p=302558Speaking at a military base in Tampa on Tuesday, President Barack Obama touted his legacy as commander-in-chief, making the case that “no foreign terrorist organization... Read More

]]>Speaking at a military base in Tampa on Tuesday, President Barack Obama touted his legacy as commander-in-chief, making the case that “no foreign terrorist organization has successfully planned and executed an attack on our homeland” during his eight years in office.

On Wednesday, the Republican chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee countered Obama’s state of the terrorism threat, describing how Congress will aim to work with the administration of President-elect Donald Trump to “make America safe again.”

Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, delivered his second “State of Homeland Security” address at The Heritage Foundation, outlining a rush of counterterrorism policies marked by a stricter U.S. approach to determining who is allowed into the country.

McCaul, like Trump has, proposed that the U.S. “immediately suspend immigration from high-risk countries where we cannot confidently weed out terror suspects.”

He said he agrees with Trump on most issues, promising the Republican-led Congress will work with the next president to impose “extreme vetting” of immigrants and refugees, building a border wall with Mexico, and deporting criminal illegal immigrants.

And he called for a serious approach to preventing the kind of homegrown terrorism that has come to define how the Islamic State, or ISIS, imposes its will by inspiring “lone wolf” Americans to attack domestically.

“We are in the highest threat environment I’ve seen in my tenure as chairman,” McCaul said. “Our country is less secure than it was eight years ago. We are grappling with the calamities of retreat and a failed foreign policy. We still find ourselves in a struggle against Islamist terror. We face difficult choices that will determine if the conflict takes years or if it takes lifetimes.”

Here are the policy prescriptions McCaul offered for dealing with national security and immigration.

‘Shutting Down Terrorist Pathways’

McCaul said Republicans in Congress will work with Trump to “start shutting down all terrorist pathways into the U.S.”

McCaul, like Trump, wants to suspend the U.S. refugee program to resettle Syrians fleeing war and terrorism until “we can get the right protections in place.”

The Obama administration counters that the current vetting process for Syrian refugees is the most stringent screening for any category of legal immigrant. It has admitted more than 14,000 Syrian refugees since last October.

“We are a compassionate nation, and have a very proud tradition of welcoming refugees, but we can’t allow terrorists to take advantage of our humanitarian efforts,” McCaul said.

The Daily Signal previously reported that Trump has the authority to immediately pause the U.S. refugee program completely, or restrict refugees from specific countries.

Trump can also limit other forms of legal immigration to the U.S., as he and his incoming administration have hinted they may try and do.

“We are in the highest threat environment I’ve seen in my tenure as chairman,” says @RepMcCaul.

McCaul signaled he would support doing that, saying the U.S. “must immediately suspend immigration from high-risk countries.” McCaul did not specify which countries fit that criteria.

Foreign travelers to the U.S. who are not subject to these suspensions should still receive “extreme vetting”, McCaul said, which he defined as increasing visa security by deploying more investigators at diplomatic posts abroad.

“Our goal should be to be able to identify and exclude individuals who have ties to terror, who advance Islamist extremism, or who support the overthrow of our government or Constitution,” McCaul said.

‘Stop Radicalization From Within US’

McCaul agrees with Obama on at least one aspect of counterterrorism policy.

In their speeches, both leaders emphasized the importance of preventing domestic terrorist attacks committed by vulnerable U.S. residents and citizens who are often radicalized online.

The George Washington Program on Extremism reports that since March 2014, 111 individuals have been charged in the U.S. of offenses related to helping, planning, or acting on behalf of ISIS.

McCaul’s approach to this challenge is similar to Obama’s in that he believes the U.S. government can work with Muslim leaders across the country to defend their communities against extremist ideology, and spot warning signs.

Many communities have already developed their own innovative strategies, as The Daily Signal has reported, and the Obama administration is supporting some of these efforts with grant money.

McCaul said he wants to narrow Obama’s counter-radicalization efforts to focus primarily on Islamic extremism.

He also called for working with the private sector to remove terrorist content from the internet, and enhancing counter-message propaganda using local Muslim voices.

“We need to repeal and replace President Obama’s failed and politically correct countering violent extremism policies,” McCaul said. “We should focus on more than generic violence prevention. We should target the specific threat we face: radical Islamic terror.”

Boost Border Security

McCaul proposes a “military style” approach to border security.

He said Republicans in Congress should act quickly to help fulfill Trump’s biggest campaign promise.

“Next month, people will get what they asked for,” McCaul said. “We are going to build the wall. Period.”

Trump will need Congress to appropriate money to finish construction of a wall across the southern border, even if it’s not brick-and-mortar, but rather, extended fencing. McCaul also wants more Border Patrol agents, and enhanced aerial surveillance.

McCaul prodded Mexico to better secure its own southern border to prevent Central Americans from traveling there en route to the U.S.

Central Americans escaping violence and poverty now make up the largest group of immigrants entering the U.S. illegally.

McCaul said he’d support Trump if he sought to overturn Obama administration immigration policies that were enacted by the executive branch.

For example, Trump could cancel Obama’s 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, which has provided deportation protection and work permits to immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children.

McCaul said he agrees with Trump’s pledge to focus enforcement on illegal immigrants with criminal records, and that Congress should work with the president-elect to block federal funding from sanctuary cities that limit their interaction with federal immigration authorities.

‘Fix Broken Bureaucracy’

The agency that Trump and Republicans will task with implementing their proposed reforms must be “fixed,” McCaul said.

The Department of Homeland Security, established after the 9/11 attacks, is a sprawling agency with more than 240,000 employees who do everything from fighting terrorism to enforcing immigration laws.

On Wednesday, Trump nominated retired Marine Gen. John F. Kelly to run the Homeland Security Department beginning next year, according to news reports.

If confirmed by the Senate, Kelly, among other things, would be tasked with restoring morale amongst employees in the agency who have lacked it.

“DHS plays a vital role in stopping bad people and bad things from getting into the U.S., and there have been improvements, but morale at the department is terrible and too often the mission has gotten drowned out by organizational infighting,” McCaul said.

McCaul offered one policy proposal to reform an aspect of the department: He called for the revamping of the Transportation Security Administration so that airports can appoint screeners from private industry in addition to government employees.

Fighting a ‘Silent War’ in Cyberspace

To respond to a “watershed” era of cyberattacks from foreign actors, McCaul is promoting an aggressive U.S. government response.

“We cannot allow foreign governments to interfere in our democracy,” McCaul said. “When they do, we must respond forcefully, publicly, and decisively. The United States should respond to cyberattacks in a way that will make our adversaries think twice about doing it again.”

McCaul cited an October hacking attack that disrupted major U.S. websites, and the breech of Office of Personnel Management’s database last year, a break-in that exposed the records of more than 22 million current and former federal employees. U.S. government officials have said they suspected the involvement of the Chinese government in the latter attack.

And this election season, the Obama administration accused Russia of hacking U.S. political organizations.

Broadly, McCaul said the U.S. government, as it has been, should work with state and local governments to protect their networks and share cyberthreat data.

He said his “highest priority” is to encourage the formation of a single agency within the Homeland Security Department to handle cybersecurity.

]]>On Tuesday, President Barack Obama stated that “Over [the] last eight years, no foreign terrorist organization has successfully planned and executed an attack on our homeland.”

Talk about something actually deserving of being labeled as “fake news.”

Obama’s statement obscures the reality that the U.S. has faced 66 Islamist terrorist plots against the U.S. homeland during Obama’s time in office, 13 of which were successful.

When President George W. Bush left office, the U.S. had faced 28 Islamist plots after 9/11, only one of which was successful. Now there have been 93 Islamist plots since 9/11, and 14 successful attacks.

Obama’s statement is technically accurate since none of these attacks were planned and directed from abroad. Instead, the vast majority of the terror plots and all of the successful attacks since 9/11 have involved homegrown terrorists—that is, terrorists who radicalized and plotted here in the U.S.

Obama’s comment obscures the truth that in his eight years in office, as shown by the sharp increase in the number of Islamist plots and successful attacks, the homeland has been less safe.

Claiming victory while the U.S. is in the most active period of terrorist activity since 9/11 is not only pushing a false narrative, but it risks diverting our attention from what needs to be done to defend the U.S. homeland.

]]>http://dailysignal.com/2016/12/07/obamas-terrorism-claim-hides-an-inconvenient-truth/feed/0Nation’s Largest College System Says It Will Protect Illegal Immigrants From Trumphttp://dailysignal.com/2016/12/07/nations-largest-college-system-says-it-will-protect-illegal-immigrants-from-trump/
http://dailysignal.com/2016/12/07/nations-largest-college-system-says-it-will-protect-illegal-immigrants-from-trump/#respondWed, 07 Dec 2016 16:48:27 +0000http://dailysignal.com/?p=302435The head of California’s community college system, the country’s largest, has joined other education leaders in the state by declaring that he will resist any effort... Read More

]]>The head of California’s community college system, the country’s largest, has joined other education leaders in the state by declaring that he will resist any effort by the federal government to deport illegal immigrants within his student body.

Eloy Ortiz Oakley is chancellor of California Community Colleges, a network of some 113 campuses and the largest unified education system in the country with about 2 million students.

While Oakley didn’t pledge to break any laws, he did say the school would accept any student regardless of immigration status, and would refuse to turn over student information to the federal government unless ordered to do so by a warrant or subpoena.

Oakley also said the school would also actively resist any federal attempt to create a registry of students based on a list of characteristics that includes national origin.

Oakley was blunt in saying that he opposed any enforcement of U.S. immigration laws for students who arrived in the U.S. illegally as minors.

“It is vital that these students, who were brought to this country as children, have the ability to learn without fear of being deported,” Oakley said. “The California community colleges stand with these students because they represent some of the best qualities that our state and nation have to offer.”

Thousands of students around the country have protested with demands that universities declare themselves “sanctuary campuses” dedicated to protecting illegal immigrants from deportation.

Several colleges have answered the call, but by far the most important have been the three major college networks in California. Due to their immense size and their presence in California (which has a high illegal immigrant population), the colleges are believed to have substantially more illegal immigrant students than the typical school in the U.S.

With its immense size and low admissions requirements, California Community Colleges may have more illegal students than any other college network.

]]>http://dailysignal.com/2016/12/07/nations-largest-college-system-says-it-will-protect-illegal-immigrants-from-trump/feed/0Mike Pence: ‘Buckle Up’ for Trump’s First 100 Dayshttp://dailysignal.com/2016/12/06/mike-pence-buckle-up-for-trumps-first-100-days/
http://dailysignal.com/2016/12/06/mike-pence-buckle-up-for-trumps-first-100-days/#commentsWed, 07 Dec 2016 03:00:03 +0000http://dailysignal.com/?p=302361Vice President-elect Mike Pence asserted Tuesday night that the Trump administration will have an aggressive first 100 days in office that includes rebuilding the military,... Read More

]]>Vice President-elect Mike Pence asserted Tuesday night that the Trump administration will have an aggressive first 100 days in office that includes rebuilding the military, repealing Obamacare, and naming a justice to the Supreme Court.

The Indiana governor and former U.S. House member said he has visited Capitol Hill about the agenda and issued a warning to GOP lawmakers.

“I told my former colleagues to buckle up, vacation is over,” Pence said to laughter from the audience.

Pence spoke Tuesday night at The Heritage Foundation’s President’s Club Meeting, held at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., in front of about 700 people in the large ballroom. His speech came just 44 days before Donald Trump is inaugurated the 45th president. The Heritage Foundation is the parent organization of The Daily Signal.

“During the campaign, I said that while you are electing a president to serve a four-year term, right before electing him to serve another four-year term, the next president will influence the next 40 years,” Pence said.

He noted the list of potential Supreme Court nominees that The Heritage Foundation helped compile was a “gold mine of conservative jurists.” He said Trump will “appoint a justice to the Supreme Court in the mold of the late, great Antonin Scalia.”

Pence went on to talk about plans to tackle the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare.

“Our president-elect is going to be in the promise-keeping business and we are going to repeal Obamacare lock, stock, and barrel,” Pence said to loud applause.

“We have asked Congress to put on his desk with all deliberate speed a repeal of Obamacare and replace it with free-market reforms,” Pence added.

Pence talked about the state of the American military. He said the average military planes are older than his son, who is in the Marines. He noted that the Army is the smallest it has been since World War II, while the number of Navy ships has been cut by nearly half and the the Air Force is one-third smaller.

“Ronald Reagan taught us that peace comes through strength. … This administration has walked away from its commitment to be that arsenal of democracy to the world,” Pence said. “The Obama era of weakening our national defenses is over.”

Pence expressed his gratitude to The Heritage Foundation for its help in the presidential transition, and said that the think tank’s former president, Ed Feulner, “has shown up each and every day at the transition office of the president of the United States.”

“We will continue to draw on the extraordinary intellectual creativity of The Heritage Foundation. We truly believe the president-elect received a mandate to lead and you know something about that,” he said.

Some movement conservatives who had doubts about Trump during the presidential campaign are very hopeful that Pence will play a powerful role in the administration, having built a strong conservative record in the House and later as governor of Indiana.

Jim DeMint, president of The Heritage Foundation and a former South Carolina senator and House member, introduced the vice president-elect.

DeMint recalled that when they served in the House together, they were “called to the carpet” at the White House during a meeting with President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and Bush adviser Karl Rove, who were trying to pressure them to vote with the president or “our careers would be over.”

“Somehow, we managed to survive,” DeMint joked.

During the introduction, DeMint noted to the crowd, “It is something really sweet to be in the Trump Hotel a few blocks from the White House.”

During his remarks, Pence noted the commonalities between himself and the president-elect, noting a significant exception.

“Other than a whole lot of zeroes, Donald Trump and I have a whole lot in common. That’s a belief in the American dream,” Pence said. “For our president-elect and vice president-elect, the American dream is not a bumper sticker. It’s real. We lived it.”

]]>A recent report from the inspector general concluded that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services mishandled thousands of green cards. The Department of Homeland Security has admitted that these green cards are missing and cannot be accounted for.

These missing green cards pose a security risk for American citizens. As the inspector general cautioned in his report: “In the wrong hands, green cards may enable terrorists, criminals, and undocumented aliens to remain in the United States.”

How bad is the damage? The inspector general’s report states that nearly 19,000 cards over the past three years either contained misinformation or were printed twice. In addition, over 200,000 cards reportedly were delivered to the incorrect address or were otherwise reported as not delivered.

But how does such a large failure occur?

The inspector general’s report lays blame on a system that was created to modernize and enhance the way Citizenship and Immigration Services handles immigration requests and petitions.

To this day, Citizenship and Immigration Services primarily relies on paper-based immigration petitions and transactions. But several years ago, in an effort to digitize and reform that slow, outdated process, the Electronic Immigration System was developed so that its records, forms, and transactions could all be accessed online.

Though the electronic system was intended to make digitized records and allow immigrants to complete transactions electronically, it has been plagued by problems since its inception. Essentially, the unsuccessful system is behind schedule, over budget, and has accomplished precious little.

The government has already sunk $1.2 billion into the program, though it was originally estimated to cost $536 million. And for all that money, the program only allows its users to complete two out of 90 transactions online.

Citizenship and Immigration Services is now running an inefficient system comprised of both paper-based and digitized records. This places an enormous burden on the already struggling department, which currently has millions of applications to process. It is within this system that these failures, perhaps unsurprisingly, occurred.

Citizenship and Immigration Services needs to be held accountable for its failure to implement the Electronic Immigration System in an efficient and timely manner.

It is not only costing taxpayers millions of dollars and making it more difficult for law-abiding immigrants to make immigration requests. It is now putting the U.S. at increased risk of fraud, criminality, and potentially even terrorism.

Immigration policy is a priority of the incoming Trump administration, and this should include fixing Citizenship and Immigration Services. Whoever Trump appoints as the next director of Citizenship and Immigration Services, Congress should hold his or her feet to the fire to clean up this broken system.

]]>http://dailysignal.com/2016/12/06/dhs-green-card-follies-are-costing-taxpayers-and-leaving-america-less-safe/feed/0Ben Carson, Critic of ‘Government Dependency,’ Picked to Lead Housing Agencyhttp://dailysignal.com/2016/12/05/ben-carson-critic-of-government-dependency-picked-to-lead-housing-agency/
http://dailysignal.com/2016/12/05/ben-carson-critic-of-government-dependency-picked-to-lead-housing-agency/#respondMon, 05 Dec 2016 19:38:35 +0000http://dailysignal.com/?p=301825President-elect Donald Trump has chosen former rival Ben Carson to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Trump transition team announced Monday. “Ben... Read More

]]>President-elect Donald Trump has chosen former rival Ben Carson to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Trump transition team announced Monday.

“Ben Carson has a brilliant mind and is passionate about strengthening communities and families within those communities,” Trump said in a formal statement. “We have talked at length about my urban renewal agenda and our message of economic revival, very much including our inner cities.”

Carson, who previously voiced doubts about taking on a Cabinet-level position, said he is “honored” to serve as head of the housing agency, where he will be tasked with helping more low-income families secure access to safe and affordable homes.

“I am honored to accept the opportunity to serve our country in the Trump administration,” Carson, 65, said, adding:

I feel that I can make a significant contribution, particularly by strengthening communities that are most in need. We have much work to do in enhancing every aspect of our nation and ensuring that our nation’s housing needs are met.

Carson, the son of a single mother, grew up poor and the family had to utilize public assistance for a period of time.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s programs include the housing choice voucher program, mortgage loans, and oversight of the Fair Housing Act, which prevents discrimination.

Here are five things to know about Carson, who will face Senate confirmation:

1. He is a notable critic of “government dependency.”

Since early 2015, Carson made reducing what he calls “government dependency” a hallmark of his campaign. He often spoke of federal public assistance programs trapping low-income families in a cycle of poverty, and instead prefers local and private-sector approaches.

“I’m interested in getting rid of dependency, and I want us to find a way to allow people to excel in our society, and as more and more people hear that message, they will recognize who is truly on their side and who is trying to keep them suppressed and cultivate their votes,” Carson said in a 2015 speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference outside Washington, adding:

That’s not compassion, that’s the opposite of compassion. It’s making people dependent. What real compassion is, is using our intellect to find ways to allow those people to climb out of dependency and realize the American dream.

Carson is the first African-American picked for a Cabinet spot in the Trump administration. (Photo: Steve Marcus/Reuters//Newscom)

2. Carson has experience with government assistance program.

Although some observers criticize Carson for his lack of government experience, Carson does have experience utilizing public assistance. In his autobiography, “Gifted Hands,” Carson wrote about being raised by a single mom in inner-city Detroit and often feeling ashamed for relying on government assistance such as food stamps.

“I knew [my mother] was trying to keep us off public assistance,” he wrote, adding:

By the time I went into ninth grade, Mother had made such strides that she received nothing except food stamps. She couldn’t have provided for us and kept up the house without that subsidy.

3. He is a world-renowned brain surgeon who often touted his accomplishments on the campaign trail.

Carson, who received a scholarship to Yale, was named director of pediatric neurosurgery at John Hopkins Hospital at age 33.

Now retired, Carson often joked during the Republican primaries that Washington needed more outsiders like him.

“[I’m] the only one to take out half of a brain, although you would think if you go to Washington, that someone had beat me to it,” he said in an August debate.

4. His relationship with Trump was at times rocky, but they made amends.

Unlike some of the other 2016 Republican presidential candidates, Carson and Trump resolved their differences early on. After an underwhelming performance on Super Tuesday, Carson dropped out and, shortly thereafter, endorsed Trump.

The two previously feuded in public, with Trump attacking Carson for comments on pyramids and his biography’s description of his violent tendencies as a youth.

With Ben Carson wanting to hit his mother on head with a hammer, stab a friend and Pyramids built for grain storage – don't people get it?

5. He has criticized the performance of the Department of Housing and Urban Development under the Obama administration, suggesting he’d implement major reforms.

In 2015, Carson compared Obama administration housing rules designed to “affirmatively promote” fair housing to “the failure of school busing” decades ago, when low-income, inner-city students were bused to schools in more affluent neighborhoods and students in those neighborhoods were bused to poor schools.

“The rationale was that if white parents had to send their children to black schools, they would help to ensure that those schools were better equipped,” Carson wrote.

In criticizing the Obama administration’s take on the Fair Housing Act, Carson suggested the Department of Housing and Urban Development was employing the same “failed” thinking. In The Washington Times, he wrote:

The new rule would not only condition the grant of HUD funds to municipalities on building affordable housing as is the case today, but would require that such affordable housing be built primarily in wealthier neighborhoods with few current minority residents and that the new housing be aggressively marketed to minorities. In practice, the rule would fundamentally change the nature of some communities from primarily single family to largely apartment-based areas by encouraging municipalities to strike down housing ordinances that have no overtly (or even intended) discriminatory purpose—including race-neutral zoning restrictions on lot sizes and limits on multi-unit dwellings, all in the name of promoting diversity.

Relying on information from The New York Times, an earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Carson lived in government housing. The New York Times has since corrected its story and The Daily Signal has updated its own to reflect the correction.

]]>President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense, retired four-star Marine Gen. James Mattis, is worried that the U.S. is retreating in a chaotic world.

“Right now we have an America that is starting to reduce its role in the world,” Mattis said in a speech at The Heritage Foundation last year. “That’s not good.”

Mattis, known and admired as “Mad Dog” in the military, is sober about what impact America can ultimately have on world events. But that doesn’t mean the U.S. shouldn’t try to exert its influence, he says.

“I have never thought it necessary to patronize the American people,” Mattis, 66, said in the same speech. “You are not going to get it completely right. You just don’t want to get it completely wrong.”

Mattis has lived this reality.

During a 41-year military career, he most recently ran the United States Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East and Southwest Asia, from 2010 to 2013.

Before that, he was most known for his leadership in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“We are going to appoint ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis as our secretary of defense,” Trump told supporters at a rally on Thursday night in Cincinnati, Ohio. “But we’re not announcing it until Monday, so don’t tell anybody. Mad Dog. He’s great. He is great.”

Mattis led the 1st Marine Division during the 2003 invasion of Iraq to defeat Saddam Hussein. He later led the Marines in the bloodiest battle of the Iraq War to retake the city of Fallujah from Sunni insurgents in 2004.

Today, the U.S. remains engaged in war in Iraq as it leads a coalition to dislodge the Islamic State, or ISIS, from the country.

As Trump taps Mattis to lead the Pentagon in its defense of the U.S., here are four things to consider about the outspoken, well-read Marine general, also known as “Warrior Monk.”

1. Critical of Obama Middle East Strategy

Since Mattis left the Central Command, reportedly because the Obama administration believed he was too hawkish on Iran, he’s been a frequent critic of Washington’s Middle East policies.

“Whether it is right or not, the perception [among allies in the Middle East] is we are pulling back, and going into that vacuum are rather unsavory impulses,” Mattis said in the Heritage speech.

Mattis has said that responding to “political Islam” is a major security issue facing the U.S., one that underlies the various conflicts in the Middle East. It’s a place that “still has me going through therapy,” he has joked.

“Is political Islam in the best interest of the United States?” Mattis said. “I suggest the answer is no, but we need to have the discussion. If we won’t even ask the question, how do we even recognize which is our side in a fight?”

He also has said that Iran is a greater threat than terrorist groups such as ISIS or al-Qaeda.

Speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in April, Mattis said Iran is “the single most enduring threat to stability and peace in the Middle East.”

But in the same speech, Mattis did not advocate canceling the nuclear deal the Obama administration and other foreign powers negotiated with Iran.

He said the nuclear deal may slow Iran’s pathway to a nuclear weapon, and not stop the regime.

Yet “absent a clear and present violation,” he did not know how the U.S. could back away from the deal, because unilateral action against Iran would not be successful unless allies party to the agreement also participate.

“What we achieved was a nuclear pause, not a nuclear halt,” Mattis said. “We’re going to have to plan for the worst.”

2. ‘Serious’ Russia Threat

Mattis may diverge with Trump on Russia policy.

In the Heritage speech, Mattis said the Russia “situation” is “much more severe and much more serious than we have acknowledged.”

“Putin goes to bed at night knowing he can break all the rules, and the West will follow all the rules,” Mattis said. “That is a very dangerous dichotomy in the way the world is being run.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin is militarily supporting the brutal regime of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Trump has suggested he could work with Russia to defeat ISIS.

Meanwhile, Russia is engaged in Europe’s only active war. Pro-Russian rebels have seized territory in eastern Ukraine, and Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.

In the Heritage speech, Mattis warned that Russia “is out to break NATO [the North Atlantic Treaty Organization] apart.”

Early in his campaign, Trump called NATO “obsolete” before saying later that he was “all for NATO.”

Mattis said the U.S. must respond to Russia’s aggressiveness.

“No dialogue with Putin is very dangerous,” Mattis said.

3. Colorful Speaking Style

A voracious reader who has never owned a television or been married, Mattis is known for using colorful language to describe life in the military.

For example, during a panel discussion in 2005, he described how enjoyable it can be to kill the enemy in war.

“Actually, it’s quite fun to fight them, you know. It’s a hell of a hoot,” Mattis said, “It’s fun to shoot some people. I’ll be right up there with you. I like brawling.”

The San Diego Union-Tribune compiled more of Mattis’ interesting quotes over the years:

“I come in peace. I didn’t bring artillery. But I’m pleading with you, with tears in my eyes: If you [expletive] with me, I’ll kill you all.”

“The most important 6 inches on the battlefield is between your ears.”

“There is nothing better than getting shot at and missed. It’s really great.”

“I’m going to plead with you, do not cross us. Because if you do, the survivors will write about what we do here for 10,000 years.”

4. Confirmation Consideration

Mattis will need supermajority support in the Senate—60 votes—to be confirmed as defense secretary. That means Mattis is the only Trump Cabinet pick so far who Democrats can unilaterally block.

This unique condition is due to Mattis’ recent retirement from the military.

Under federal law, defense secretaries must have been out of service for seven years. So for Mattis to be confirmed, Congress must pass legislation granting him a waiver to serve in the Cabinet since he left the military four years ago.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said she will oppose a waiver for Mattis because “civilian control of our military is a fundamental principle of American democracy, and I will not vote for an exception to this rule.”

Republicans are expected to control 52 Senate seats next year, meaning Mattis would need votes from at least eight Democrats.

Congress has granted a similar exemption just once, when George Marshall was appointed to the job in 1950. Marshall was the last ranking general to be defense secretary.

]]>One of These 21 Men and Women Will Be Trump’s First Supreme Court Pickhttp://dailysignal.com/2016/12/01/one-of-these-21-men-and-women-will-be-trumps-first-supreme-court-pick/
Thu, 01 Dec 2016 22:45:10 +0000http://dailysignal.com/?p=301250President-elect Donald Trump is that rare president who will nominate a Supreme Court justice almost immediately after taking office. Trump is expected to act quickly... Read More

]]>President-elect Donald Trump is that rare president who will nominate a Supreme Court justice almost immediately after taking office.

Trump is expected to act quickly to fill the seat of Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in February. During a Thursday interview with Sean Hannity, Trump announced he’s narrowed his original list of 21 people to “probably three or four.”

Two of the remaining eight Supreme Court justices, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 83, and Stephen Breyer, 78, are older than average for a justice and may choose to retire. One-third of the potential nominees on Trump’s list of 21 contenders are 50 or younger, and four are women.

This could present a historic opportunity for Trump to reshape the Supreme Court, author and presidential historian Craig Shirley says.

“With a vacancy and aging people on the court, just as there was a Reagan court and just as there was a Roosevelt court, we might see a Trump Supreme Court,” Shirley told The Daily Signal, adding:

It is less likely these justices will retire. It’s more likely they will go out feet first. When you’re in your 80s, you might as well show up at the office. You’re not going to take up water skiing.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest told The Daily Signal that President Barack Obama is well aware of coming changes on the high court, though Earnest said he hasn’t heard the president discuss it.

“I’m not aware that the president has spoken to this, either publicly or privately,” Earnest said. “I think the president’s expectation is that President Trump will fill vacancies on the Supreme Court by appointing people who are quite different than the kind of people that President Obama appointed.”

“President Trump will fill vacancies on the Supreme Court by appointing people who are quite different than the kind of people that President Obama appointed,” @presssec says.

Top Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway has said the president-elect is committed to choosing justices from the list of 21 candidates he released earlier this year.

Trump’s release of the list during the campaign was an unprecedented move, Carrie Severino, chief counsel and policy director for the Judicial Crisis Network, noted after the election.

“Given the significance of the court to Trump’s voters, I’m confident that he will stand by his campaign promise to appoint someone from his excellent list of constitutionalist judges,” Severino said in a formal statement, adding:

While that still would leave the Supreme Court in a 4-4-1 balance, with Justice [Anthony] Kennedy as a swing vote, Trump is likely to have the opportunity to appoint additional justices, who can ensure that the Constitution is interpreted according to its text and original meaning and isn’t used as a vehicle for political policy goals.

Most on the list are state Supreme Court justices or U.S. Court of Appeals judges. The list include two individuals who have served in Congress and would have a political record to defend. Two brothers also are on the list.

Trump faced some criticism for lack of diversity, with eight white males among the 11 names on the initial list he released in May; his subsequent list in September included one South Asian and one Hispanic.

A Political Trail

At Senate confirmation hearings, Supreme Court nominees who already are judges typically avoid directly answering questions about how they would rule on a policy that might come before the nation’s highest court.

However, three of those on Trump’s list were elected by voters to offices that require taking public stances during the course of a campaign. Two of the three have gone on to become judges:

U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, is a big favorite of conservatives. Lee, 45, was also a strong critic of Trump during the presidential campaign. As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Lee typically would be in the advise and consent role during confirmation hearings for judicial nominees. Before he was elected to the Senate in 2010, Lee served as an assistant U.S. attorney for Utah. He is a graduate of Brigham Young University Law School and clerked for Justice Samuel Alito.

Florida Chief Justice Charles Canady, 62, was a four-term Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives in the 1990s. Canady was one of the impeachment managers that acted as a prosecuting team against President Bill Clinton during his Senate trial in 1999. Canady, on the state’s high court since 2008, was elevated to chief justice in 2010. He previously was a state appeals court judge. He is a graduate of Yale Law School.

Judge William H. Pryor Jr., a Bush appointee, has served since 2004 on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Alabama. Pryor, 54, became Alabama’s attorney general in 1997 after his predecessor, Jeff Sessions, was elected to the U.S. Senate as a Republican. (Trump has announced he intends to nominate Sessions as U.S. attorney general.) Pryor was elected in his own right in 1998 as state attorney general and was re-elected in 2002. In 2013, he was confirmed to a term on the United States Sentencing Commission. Pryor received his law degree from Tulane.

State Supreme Court Justices

In recent years, presidents typically have plucked federal appeals court justices to serve on the Supreme Court.

Not since President Ronald Reagan nominated Arizona state appeals court judge Sandra Day O’Connor to the Supreme Court in 1981 has a state judge of any kind been elevated to the high court.

Trump’s list includes as many state supreme court justices as federal appeals judges. The inclusion of two district judges, however, means federal judges outnumber state judges:

Georgia Supreme Court Justice Keith Blackwell, named by Gov. Nathan Deal to the court 2012, previously was a state appeals court judge and state prosecutor. Blackwell, 41, was an assistant district attorney for Cobb County before becoming a deputy state attorney general. A graduate of the University of Georgia School of Law, Blackwell also has worked in private practice.

Colorado Supreme Court Justice Allison Eid, named to the state’s high court by then-Gov. Bill Owens, a Republican, in 2006, won 75 percent of the vote to retain the position. Eid, 51, previously was the state’s solicitor general. A graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, Eid clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Michigan Supreme Court Justice Joan Larsen was named to the state’s high court by Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican. Larsen, 48, in 2002 became an assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel. Larsen, who also taught law at the University of Michigan. received her law degree from Northwestern and clerked for Scalia.

Utah Supreme Court Justice Thomas Lee is the brother of Mike Lee, so the list is no small achievement for the Lee family. Both men are the sons of former U.S. Solicitor General Rex Lee. Thomas Lee, 52, began serving on Utah’s high court in 2010, nominated by Gov. Gary Herbert, a Republican. (His brother was elected to the U.S. Senate that same year.) Lee previously was on the faculty of Brigham Young University Law School, where he continues to teach in an adjunct capacity. During the Bush administration, he was deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s Civil Division from 2004 to 2005. A graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, he clerked for Thomas.

Iowa Supreme Court Justice Edward Mansfield was appointed in 2011 by Gov. Terry Branstad, a Republican, and voters decided to retain him in 2012. Mansfield, 58, previously served on the Iowa Court of Appeals. He is a graduate of Yale Law School.

Minnesota Supreme Court Justice David Stras, 42, was appointed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a Republican, in 2010. He was elected to a six-year term in 2012. Before serving on the bench, Stras taught at University of Minnesota Law School. He received his law degree from the University of Kansas and clerked for Thomas.

Texas Supreme Court Justice Don Willett has served on the state’s high court since 2005, appointed by then-Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, and re-elected twice by voters. Willett, 50, previously was a senior fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. An adviser to George W. Bush’s gubernatorial administrations, Willett later served as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Policy when Bush became president. He also was a deputy attorney general under then-Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, now the state’s Republican governor. Willett received his law degree from Duke University.

Michigan Chief Justice Robert Young, 65, was appointed to the state’s high court in 1999 by then-Gov. John Engler, a Republican. He previously served as a judge on the Michigan Court of Appeals. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School.

Federal Appeals Judges

Trump could follow the model of most recent Supreme Court nominations by choosing a federal appeals court judge.

Two of President Barack Obama’s nominees were appellate judges—Sonia Sotomayor, confirmed by the Senate, and Merrick Garland, his pick to replace Scalia, who has not been confirmed.

President George W. Bush nominated John Roberts and Samuel Alito, both former appeals court judges who were successfully confirmed.

Obama also successfully nominated Elena Kagan, a former solicitor general who never before served as a judge. Bush nominated and later withdrew White House counsel Harriet Miers, also never a judge.

President Bill Clinton’s two Supreme Court appointees, Ginsburg and Breyer, were both federal appeals court judges.

President George H.W. Bush named David Souter, a former appeals court judge. Reagan’s other two nominees, Scalia and Kennedy, were both federal appeals court judges.

Appeals court judges on Trump’s list are:

Judge Steven Colloton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit in Iowa, was appointed in 2003 by George W. Bush. Colloton previously served as a U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Iowa. The 53-year-old graduate of Yale Law School clerked for the late Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist.

Judge Neil Gorsuch, 49, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit in Colorado, was appointed in 2006 by Bush. Before that, Gorsuch was a deputy assistant attorney general at the Justice Department. The Harvard Law School graduate clerked for both Kennedy and Byron White.

Judge Raymond Gruender, 53, was named by Bush to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit in Missouri in 2004. He previously was a prosecutor and served as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri. He received his law degree from Washington University in St. Louis.

Judge Thomas Hardiman was appointed by Bush in 2007 to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit in Pennsylvania. Hardiman, 51, previously was a federal district judge for the Western District of Pennsylvania, a position he took in 2003. A Notre Dame graduate, Hardiman practiced law in Washington and Pittsburgh.

Judge Raymond Kethledge was named by Bush to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit in Ohio in 2008. Kethledge, 49, previously served as judiciary counsel to then-U.S. Sen. Spencer Abraham, R-Mich. He also was in-house legal counsel for Ford Motor Co. The University of Michigan graduate clerked for Kennedy.

Judge Margaret A. Ryan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces was appointed by Bush in 2006. As a military judge and a veteran, she stands out among other contenders. Ryan, 52, served in the Marine Corps in the Philippines and during the Persian Gulf War. She graduated from Notre Dame Law School on a military scholarship and served as a JAG officer for four years. She clerked for Thomas.

Chief Judge Timothy Tymkovich of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit in Colorado, a Bush appointee, has served since 2003. Tymkovich, 60, previously was Colorado’s solicitor general. He is a graduate of the University of Colorado College of Law.

Judge Diane Sykes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit in Wisconsin was named by Bush in 2004. Sykes, 58, had been a justice on the Wisconsin Supreme Court since 1999. Before that, she was a trial court judge in both civil and criminal matters. She received her law degree from Marquette.

Federal District Judges

Federal district judges are also rare Supreme Court nominees, but Trump’s list includes two:

Judge Federico Moreno of the Southern District of Florida is a member of the Judicial Conference of the United States, the national policymaking body for the federal courts. Moreno, 64 and Hispanic, was appointed in 1990 by President George H.W. Bush. Moreno previously was a state and county judge in Florida. He is a graduate of the University of Miami School of Law.

Judge Amul Thapar of the Eastern District of Kentucky was appointed by the younger Bush in 2007. He has taught law students at the University of Cincinnati and Georgetown. Thapar, 47, previously served as an assistant U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., and the Southern District of Ohio. He is of South Asian descent. Just before being named to his judgeship, Thapar was U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky. He got his law degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

]]>President-elect Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency transition leader, Myron Ebell, is a huge threat to the green gravy train. Now, with billions of crony dollars at stake, the green slander machine is doing all it can to slime him.

Following their standard tactic, advocates of big government cronyism have picked someone to demonize as the face of small-government, pro-freedom ideals.

Ebell is that face, and he’s enduring the left’s vilification for voicing reasonable thought on climate change policy. Though he bears the burden with grace and humor, there is no excuse for the personal attacks, which are designed to distract attention from the high stakes of the debate.

What’s at stake for big green is billions upon billions of dollars taken from taxpayers and consumers and given to green crony businesses. Just for wind energy alone, grants, tax credits, loan guarantees, and other subsidies add up to at least $176 billion.

What isn’t at stake—contrary to the left’s talking points—is the Earth’s climate.

When judged by their actual effect, it becomes clear that the real goal of international climate policies is a power and money grab that no one, not even its most vocal supporters, believes will have much impact on the climate.

In fact, Christiana Figueres—until recently the executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change—noted that the goal of those policies was to rearrange the world economy:

This is the first time in the history of mankind that we are setting ourselves the task of intentionally, within a defined period of time, to change the economic development model that has been reigning for at least 150 years, since the Industrial Revolution.

The big problem for the framework convention, the IPCC, renewable energy hustlers, and climate rent-seekers of all sorts is that Ebell is on to their game. So, out come the daggers of personal attacks and character assassination.

Many in the media are more than happy to abet the groups who perpetrate these attacks. The Media Research Center provides a nice sampler of these attacks and associated yellow journalism here.

It’s not at all clear what the name-callers mean when they call Ebell a “climate denier,” but in a bizarre semantic twist, they appear to mean that he is not a hysterical climate data denier.

Like most skeptics, Ebell recognizes the basic carbon dioxide science: Adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere may somewhat increase warming. But he also recognizes the much more important question: How much is this “somewhat”?

Because knowledge of these facts is such a threat to the climate-industrial complex, anyone who dares to expose the truth comes under threat of personal destruction.

In 1987, “Borking” became a term for getting shot down after the U.S. Senate torpedoed Robert Bork’s nomination to the Supreme Court. We should not allow green activists to make “Ebelling” a synonym for “Borking.”

]]>Attack at Ohio State Brings US Terror Plots, Attacks to 93 Since 9/11http://dailysignal.com/2016/11/30/attack-at-ohio-state-brings-us-terror-plots-attacks-to-93-since-911/
Wed, 30 Nov 2016 23:24:05 +0000http://dailysignal.com/?p=300927This week, terror struck American soil once again—this time on a university campus. On the morning of Nov. 28, Abdul Razak Ali Artan drove a... Read More

This week, terror struck American soil once again—this time on a university campus.

On the morning of Nov. 28, Abdul Razak Ali Artan drove a car into a crowd of pedestrians on the campus of Ohio State University. He then got out of the car and began attacking those around him with a knife.

A nearby police officer, Alan Horujko, was able to respond within a minute, shooting and killing Artan when he refused to drop the knife. Eleven individuals were injured, all of whom are expected to survive.

Authorities believe that Artan may have been inspired by the Islamic State as well as the Yemeni-American propagandist Anwar al-Awlaki. Artan posted a rant against the U.S. on Facebook just before the attack.

Using a vehicle as a method of attack has been recommended by al-Qaeda and ISIS in their magazines and was also used in the terrorist attack in Nice, France, and at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

According to authorities, Artan was an 18-year-old student at the university. Of Somali descent, Artan was living in the U.S. as a legal permanent resident. Law enforcement officials and refugee resettlement agencies report that Artan and his family came to the U.S. in 2014 from Pakistan as refugees, where they had reportedly lived for seven years after fleeing Somalia.

While some of these details have yet to be officially confirmed, the evidence is clear enough to add this attack to the list of Islamist terror plots. This attack is the 93rd Islamist terrorist attack or plot against the U.S. homeland since 9/11 and the 12th plot or attack this year.

Including this attack, 14 successful Islamist terrorist attacks have occurred on U.S. soil since 9/11, five of which have been in 2016 alone. With Artan also appearing to have been radicalized here in the U.S., the total number of homegrown plots rises to 82 of the 93.

While the threat of complex, overseas-planned or supported terrorist attacks is still real (as evidenced by attacks in Paris and Brussels), the trend in the U.S. has been toward more basic and improvised attacks by homegrown lone wolves.

Such attacks can be difficult to detect—a reality reflected by the growing number of successful attacks in the U.S. As these individuals are already in the U.S. when they become radicalized, immigration vetting can do little, if anything, to detect these individuals.

]]>President-elect Donald Trump tapped Wilbur Ross, an investor and longtime Trump associate, to serve as secretary of the Department of Commerce, the transition team announced Wednesday.

“Wilbur Ross is a champion of American manufacturing and knows how to help companies succeed. Most importantly, he is one of the greatest negotiators I have ever met, and that comes from me, the author of ‘The Art of the Deal,’” Trump said in a statement. “Together, we will take on the special interests and stand up for American jobs.”

Ross, 79, is a billionaire investor most known for rescuing failed companies—a reputation that earned him the nickname “the king of bankruptcies,” according to Politico.

He’ll take over the Commerce Department as the new administration gears up for implementation of Trump’s “America First” economic plan, which involves creating more than 25 million jobs in the next 10 years.

A native of New Jersey and a former Democrat, Ross spent 25 years at the head of Rothschild Inc.’s bankruptcy practice, according to Forbes. He then launched WL Ross & Co., an investment firm, in 2000 and currently serves as its chairman.

Ross is worth an estimated $2.9 billion, according to Forbes.

“I am delighted to have been selected to join President-elect Trump’s Cabinet and look forward to working especially closely with [newly appointed Treasury Secretary] Steve Mnuchin to implement the economic programs which we have developed jointly to implement the president-elect’s strategy for accelerating our economic growth,” Ross said in a statement.

The 78-year-old billionaire has resurrected companies in the steel, coal, and textiles industries. Ross also helped Trump salvage his Trump Taj Mahal casino in 1990, when the casino was on the verge of bankruptcy.

Ross and investor Carl Icahn decided to restructure the bankruptcy filing in 1991, according to The New York Times, which allowed Trump to save his brand.

Ross is most known for his decision to buy struggling steelmakers including LTV and Bethlehem Steel, which he turned into a new company called International Steel Group. In 2004, Mittal Steel purchased International Steel Group for $4.5 billion.

Despite Ross’ success in that deal, the billionaire’s foray into the steel industry took a drastic turn in 2006 when an explosion at the Sago Mine in West Virginia killed 12 miners. A company Ross owned, International Steel Group, took over the mine months earlier.

Ross served as an economic adviser to Trump during the campaign and shares Trump’s views on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, calling it the “worst trade deal yet for American manufacturing” in an August op-ed in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

If confirmed by the Senate to lead the Commerce Department, Ross will succeed Penny Pritzker. President Barack Obama selected Pritzker for the post in 2013.

As secretary, Ross would serve as a liaison between the White House and the business community. The Commerce Department oversees the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the International Trade Administration, the National Weather Service, and the Census Bureau.

Ross graduated from Yale University and Harvard University, and lives with his third wife in Palm Beach, Florida, not far from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.

His second wife is Betsy McCaughey, who served as New York’s lieutenant governor from 1995 to 1998. McCaughey also served on Trump’s economic team during the campaign.

]]>What to Know About Steven Mnuchin, Trump’s Pick for Treasuryhttp://dailysignal.com/2016/11/30/what-to-know-about-steven-mnuchin-trumps-pick-for-treasury/
Wed, 30 Nov 2016 17:41:13 +0000http://dailysignal.com/?p=300846Though not a widely known quantity in Washington, Steven Mnuchin, President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for treasury secretary, has had a seasoned career in high finance,... Read More

]]>Though not a widely known quantity in Washington, Steven Mnuchin, President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for treasury secretary, has had a seasoned career in high finance, in Hollywood, and, most recently, as finance chairman of the Trump campaign.

“I am honored to have the opportunity to serve our great country in this important role,” Mnuchin, 54, said in a formal statement. “I understand what needs to be done to fix the economy. I look forward to helping President-elect Trump implement a bold economic agenda that creates good-paying jobs and defends the American worker.”

If confirmed by the Senate, Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs partner who has donated heavily to Democrats in the past and once worked for liberal financier George Soros, will play a significant role in much of Trump’s agenda regarding tax policy, trade deals, and infrastructure ambitions, among other policies.

“Steve Mnuchin is a world-class financier, banker, and businessman, and has played a key role in developing our plan to build a dynamic, booming economy that will create millions of jobs,” Trump said in a statement. “His expertise and pro-growth ideas make him the ideal candidate to serve as secretary of the treasury.”

Here are five major things to know about Mnuchin:

1. Second Generation at Goldman Sachs

His father, Robert Mnuchin, was a top trader at Goldman Sachs, an investment banking, securities and investment management firm. The elder Mnuchin later became an art dealer. Like his father, Steven Mnuchin joined the powerful financial firm at age 22, and stayed for 17 years. He left the firm in 2002.

At Goldman, the younger Mnuchin oversaw trading in government securities, mortgages, money markets, and municipal bonds. He rose to be the chief information officer.

Goldman Sachs is widely known for its political influence in both parties. If confirmed, Mnuchin would be the third secretary of the Treasury Department to have worked for the firm. President Bill Clinton’s treasury secretary, Robert Rubin, and President George W. Bush’s treasury secretary, Hank Paulson, were both former Goldman Sachs executives.

During the presidential campaign, Trump occasionally threw verbal jabs at his opponents for connections to Goldman Sachs, first at Texas Sen. Ted Cruz during the Republican primary and later at former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during the general election.

2. George Soros Connection

After departing Goldman, Mnuchin went to work for SFM Capital Management, a firm backed by billionaire George Soros, known for bankrolling liberal causes and candidates. Mnuchin later worked directly for Soros Fund Management. During the 2016 campaign season, Soros donated heavily to Priorities USA Action, a pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC.

It is not clear from news reports how close Mnuchin and Soros were, if at all.

In 2004, Mnuchin departed to start his own hedge fund, Dune Capital Management. Bloomberg News reported that Dune “got hundreds of millions of dollars from Soros.” Dune invested in at least two Trump projects, one in Waikiki, Hawaii, and another in Chicago, according to Bloomberg News.

3. Democratic Donor

Mnuchin contributed thousands of dollars to the presidential campaigns of both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in the 2008 election cycle, to John Kerry’s presidential campaign in 2004, and to Al Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign, as well as to numerous congressional Democrats, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks political donations.

He also gave to several Republican candidates, including Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign in 2012. But prior to 2012, donations to Democrats far outweighed those to Republicans.

Mnuchin told Bloomberg News the Democratic donations were mostly favors to friends who were Democratic fundraisers.

He contributed $1,000 to Clinton’s U.S. Senate campaign in New York in 2000. He also donated $1,000 to the presidential campaigns of Democrats Gore and Bill Bradley, who were competing against one another in the party’s primary that year. That same year, he also contributed $1,000 to Republican Steve Forbes’ presidential campaign.

Mnuchin contributed $2,000 to Obama’s U.S. Senate campaign in Illinois in 2004, when he also gave $500 to Kerry’s presidential campaign.

Also in 2004, he contributed $10,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

In 2007, leading up to the 2008 Democratic presidential primary, Mnuchin contributed $2,300 to Obama’s campaign and another $2,300 to Clinton’s campaign.

But he also gave the maximum $2,300 to Romney’s campaign in the 2008 Republican presidential primary.

During the 2012 cycle, Mnuchin mostly contributed to Republicans. He donated $2,500 to Romney’s primary campaign and another $2,500 to his general election campaign. He donated $12,500 to the Republican National Committee in 2012, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

In the 2016 cycle, though Mnuchin gave $2,000 to the U.S. Senate campaign of Democrat Kamala Harris in California, he also gave $100,000 to the Republican National Committee. He gave $2,700 to Trump’s presidential campaign.

4. Blockbuster Films

Mnuchin teamed with filmmaker Brett Ratner and businessman James Packer to form RatPac-Dune Entertainment. He first founded Dune Entertainment, which merged with Ratner and Packer’s RatPAC Entertainment.

The company produced successful films such as “Avatar,” which grossed $2.8 billion worldwide, “American Sniper,” “Max Max: Fury Road,” and the “X-Men” series of movies.

5. OneWest Bank Controversy

Trump praised what might end up being a target for Democrats during Mnuchin’s confirmation process.

“He purchased IndyMac Bank for $1.6 billion and ran it very professionally, selling it for $3.4 billion plus a return of capital,” Trump said of Mnuchin in his statement. “That’s the kind of people I want in my administration representing our country.”

Mnuchin, with partners, bought IndyMac Bank in 2009 and renamed it OneWest Bank Group. He served as its CEO. The bank had some clashes with California housing advocates. Mnuchin and other investors sold OneWest to CIT Group in 2015.

IndyMac Bank had been taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. over allegedly sketchy mortgage practices during the housing crisis, according to National Public Radio.

Kevin Stein, deputy director of a housing advocacy group called the California Reinvestment Coalition, told NPR that under Mnuchin, OneWest continued to be a “foreclosure machine.”

As Trump said, investors bought the bank cheap and sold at a profit. But Stein said the bank foreclosed on 36,000 homes under Mnuchin. The FDIC paid OneWest $1 billion, which Stein said went to “billionaire investors … to cover the close of foreclosing on working class, everyday American folks.”

Such rhetoric from Stein could likely be picked by Senate Democrats during the confirmation process.

]]>President-elect Donald Trump tapped Elaine Chao to head the U.S. Department of Transportation, his transition team announced Tuesday.

“Secretary Chao’s extensive record of strong leadership and her expertise are invaluable assets in our mission to rebuild our infrastructure in a fiscally responsible manner,” Trump said in a statement. “She has an amazing life story and has helped countless Americans in her public service career.”

Chao is an experienced administration official, having served as labor secretary under President George W. Bush and deputy secretary of transportation under President George H.W. Bush.

In the new Trump administration, Chao stands to serve an influential role, as the president-elect made investing in infrastructure and reducing or eliminating “burdensome regulations” a key component in his campaign.

“The President-elect has outlined a clear vision to transform our country’s infrastructure, accelerate economic growth and productivity, and create good paying jobs across the country,” said Chao in a statement. “I am honored to be nominated by the President-elect to serve my beloved country as Transportation Secretary.”

If the Senate confirms Chao, she will succeed Anthony Foxx, who is the second official to serve in the position under President Barack Obama.

Here are six things to know about Trump’s pick for transportation secretary.

1) She comes from a humble background.

In 1961, at just 8 years old, Chao arrived in the United States on a freight ship from Taiwan. Her family was fleeing the communist revolution on mainland China. At the time, she spoke no English.

According to her biography, the experience of transitioning to a new country “motivated her to dedicate most of her professional life to ensuring that all people have the opportunity to build better lives.”

Chao graduated from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts before receiving her MBA from the Harvard Business School.

2) She was the first Asian-American woman to be appointed to a president’s Cabinet.

Chao served as secretary of labor under George W. Bush from 2001 to 2009. In this position, she was “the longest tenured secretary of labor since World War II, and the only member of President Bush’s original Cabinet to have served the entire eight years of his administration.”

Before serving under George W. Bush, his father, President George H.W. Bush, tapped Chao to run the Peace Corps. A year later, she headed the nonprofit United Way of America, which faced controversy after its former president was accused of abusing charity funds.

Under the first President Bush, Chao also served as deputy transportation secretary.

According to The New York Times, she became so popular among Chinese-American families for holding these posts that they would “wait to meet her in airports.”

3) She’s worked with a variety of D.C.-based think tanks.

In June, Chao became a distinguished fellow at the Hudson Institute, researching areas of “employment, labor mobility, international trade, and U.S. competitiveness in a worldwide economy.”

Prior to joining Hudson, she served as a distinguished fellow at The Heritage Foundation, which is the parent organization of The Daily Signal, for two stints from 1996-2000 and 2009-2016. At Heritage, she focused on jobs and the economy, trade, and competitiveness issues.

Although Chao has never herself run for elected office, she has put in her fair share of campaigning for her husband, Sen. Mitch McConnell, the GOP leader from Kentucky.

During his 2014 re-election bid against the well-funded Alison Lundergan Grimes, “Chao headlined 50 of her own events and attended hundreds more with and on behalf of McConnell,” according to Time.

Her husband isn’t afraid to admit her influence: “The biggest asset I have by far is the only Kentucky woman who served in a president’s Cabinet, my wife, Elaine Chao,” McConnell said at the annual Fancy Farm GOP political picnic in August, according to Time.

5) She backed Donald Trump for president.

Unlike her former boss, Chao joined dozens of former George W. Bush administration officials in September in voicing their support for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

Chao, along with former Treasury Secretary John Snow, former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, and former Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson—among others—were part of a coalition of Bush alumni supportive of Trump, according to Reuters.

6) She’s the second person to head the departments of Transportation and Labor, and be married to the Senate majority leader.

From Alex Burns of The New York Times:

Elaine Chao will, amazingly, be the SECOND person to have been Sec of Labor, Sec of Transportation and married to Senate majority leader

]]>Trump Could Reshape the Federal Courts Dramaticallyhttp://dailysignal.com/2016/11/29/trump-could-reshape-the-federal-courts-dramatically/
Tue, 29 Nov 2016 18:28:52 +0000http://dailysignal.com/?p=300597President-elect Donald Trump can substantively recast the direction of the federal courts from the earliest days of his administration, after two years of divided government... Read More

]]>President-elect Donald Trump can substantively recast the direction of the federal courts from the earliest days of his administration, after two years of divided government have left vacancies open across the federal bench.

Though the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court occasioned by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia is the most prominent of these vacancies, there are 104 total vacancies and 38 judicial emergencies in the federal courts as of this writing.

A judicial emergency, as defined by the Judicial Conference of the United States, occurs when action items on a court’s docket exceed 6/700 per judge, or where a vacancy has lasted longer than 18 months and there are between 430-600 action items per judge. Some district court judges around the country are currently contending with dockets 1,200 filings long.

Of the 104 current vacancies, one is on the Supreme Court, 13 are on the federal appeals courts, 82 are in U.S. district courts, and eight are in courts of special jurisdiction like the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

Trump will make at least one appointment to the Supreme Court, which will likely preserve the five-four majority which (with major caveats) tends to favor the conservative bloc. Over the next four years, he may make additional appointments, as three justices are over the age of 78—Justice Stephen Breyer is 78, Justice Anthony Kennedy is 80, and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 83.

There are currently rumors afoot suggesting Kennedy may be the next to go, as he has only hired one law clerk for the coming term (clerks are typically hired several years in advance of their service on the court.) He also did not teach abroad this summer, as is usually his custom. For the moment, the court’s press officers are running interference and swatting down rumors.

While he waits on further retirements for the high court, he can begin filling vacancies that exist in the appeals and district courts.

Professor Carl Tobias of the University of Richmond School of Law, an expert in federal judicial selection, says his most meaningful impact in the early going could be on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the largest federal appeals court in the country.

By year’s end, there will be four vacancies on the court, which consistently has one of the highest Supreme Court reversal rates (Roy Hofer provides further context here.) Two vacancies were precipitated by the departure of Democrat appointees.

“Four out of 29 is not a big percentage, but it’s a fairly significant number on that court,” he said. “So if you look at it quantitatively that might be the place.”

Tobias further explained the situation is especially dire in Texas, where there are currently 11 vacancies across all four of the state’s federal district courts.

However, he explains a Supreme Court confirmation battle is likely to stymie progress on dozens of other vacancies. He anticipates Trump will not begin making appointments to the federal bench until the vacancy on the Supreme Court is filled.

“My guess is you’re not likely to see a whole lot of nominees, or even any nominees, until the Supreme Court confirmation is over,” he said. That process, he added, might not conclude until June.

Tobias noted this follows a trend that held even when Democrats controlled the White House and the Senate during the last two Supreme Court confirmations. “The rest of the process sort of came to a halt,” he said. “The circuit and district nominees didn’t have very many hearings at all.”

The slow pace of judicial confirmations, he explained, is attributable to many factors, including FBI background checks, logistical and scheduling concerns constraining the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, and the American Bar Association’s vetting process. This is his biggest concern.

“By the time the Supreme Court confirmation process is through, there may be 120 or 125 vacancies,” he said. “It will be difficult to get that number down because of the mechanics of the process and because there’s a limit to how quickly the process can go.”

]]>Meet the Doctor Trump Picked to Dismantle Obamacarehttp://dailysignal.com/2016/11/29/obamacare-opponent-tom-price-outstanding-choice-for-hhs-secretary/
Tue, 29 Nov 2016 17:54:48 +0000http://dailysignal.com/?p=300602President-elect Donald Trump’s selection of Rep. Tom Price of Georgia as the next secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is an... Read More

It is hard to imagine a candidate more qualified to serve in this crucial position, especially at a time when America’s health care economy is undergoing a major transition. He is not only a well-schooled expert in the nuances of complex public policies, but also an excellent communicator and debater.

An orthopedic surgeon by profession, Price began his public career as a member of the Georgia state Legislature. With over 12 years of service in the House of Representatives, including his service as chairman of the pivotal House Budget Committee, he has emerged as one of the most knowledgeable and effective members of Congress on federal budget and health policy.

Given his background as a state official, one can expect that he will be especially supportive of innovative health reforms at the state level.

Price’s approach to health policy, in particular, is best understood by an examination of his legislative record. He is the author of numerous bills and amendments, most notably the Empowering Patients First Act, a highly detailed legislative proposal that would repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with patient-centered provisions that would control costs and expand coverage in the private health insurance markets.

A number of Price’s proposals have been incorporated into the House Republican alternative to the failing Affordable Care Act, proposed under the leadership of House Speaker Paul Ryan.

Price’s measure would provide individual tax relief for health insurance for Americans to own and control their health insurance policies, just as they own and control their life insurance policies, making coverage fully portable and secure, from job to job and through different stages of life, without today’s outdated tax or regulatory penalties.

Patient choice of coverage combined with intense competition in the health insurance markets would not only control costs, but also stimulate innovation in benefit design and health care delivery.

By providing individual tax relief for health insurance, Price’s measure would remedy the central weakness in America’s health insurance markets, long recognized by health policy analysts and economists, including the late Nobel laureate Milton Friedman: the inflationary, dysfunctional, and inequitable federal tax treatment of health insurance.

Price has also proposed the creation of independent health insurance pools for more affordable coverage in the individual and small group markets, and also a change in the law allowing association health plans, enabling small business owners to band together across state lines.

Moreover, similar to Trump, Price supports strengthening and enhancing health savings accounts by allowing increased contributions and greater flexibility in the use of these accounts, as well as permitting individuals to buy health plans licensed in other states.

For ordinary Americans, the best reason to celebrate Trump’s choice: Price himself is a doctor. Today, doctors are demoralized by the reams of rules and regulations and paperwork imposed on them by politically-driven, bureaucratic third-party payment arrangements—a morass eating into their precious time and energy. Their patients, of course, are the ones who suffer the most.

With Price taking the helm of American health policy, doctors and patients alike have sound reasons to hope for a welcome and long-overdue change.

]]>What You Need to Know About Tom Price, Trump’s Pick for HHS Secretaryhttp://dailysignal.com/2016/11/29/what-you-need-to-know-about-tom-price-trumps-pick-for-hhs-secretary/
Tue, 29 Nov 2016 16:27:14 +0000http://dailysignal.com/?p=300518President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday that Rep. Tom Price, a Republican from Georgia, is his pick for secretary of the Department of Health and Human... Read More

]]>President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday that Rep. Tom Price, a Republican from Georgia, is his pick for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

“Chairman Price, a renowned physician, has earned a reputation for being a tireless problem solver and the go-to expert on health care policy, making him the ideal choice to serve in this capacity,” Trump said in a statement. “He is exceptionally qualified to shepherd our commitment to repeal and replace Obamacare and bring affordable and accessible health care to every American.”

If confirmed, Price, a leading critic of the Affordable Care Act, will take over the Department of Health and Human Services as Republicans prepare to send a bill repealing Obamacare to the president-elect’s desk in the first days of Trump’s administration.

“I am humbled by the incredible challenges that lay ahead and enthusiastic for the opportunity to be a part of solving them on behalf of the American people,” Price said in a statement. “There is much work to be done to ensure we have a health care system that works for patients, families, and doctors; that leads the world in the cure and prevention of illness; and that is based on sensible rules to protect the well-being of the country while embracing its innovative spirit.”

In addition to nominating Price, Trump also tapped Seema Verma for administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Verma runs a health policy firm and worked closely with Vice President-elect Mike Pence in Indiana.

The Department of Health and Human Services will play a critical role in the Trump administration, with the Price-led agency overseeing not only the repeal of the health care law, but also implementation of a replacement plan.

Congressional Republicans have signaled they’re prepared to send a bill rolling back Obamacare to Trump following his Jan. 20 inauguration, and Trump promised voters during the campaign he would get rid of the health care law.

Price currently serves as chairman of the House Budget Committee. He, along with his counterpart in the Senate, endorsed a plan to pass two budget resolutions—one for 2017 and one for 2018—next year.

Doing so would allow the GOP-led Congress to use a budget tool called reconciliation to tackle two legislative priorities, which would need a simple majority to pass the Senate.

In previous interviews, Price said he would like to see Republicans use reconciliation to repeal Obamacare and reform Medicare. The Georgia congressman’s committee is responsible for crafting the budget resolutions that include reconciliation instructions.

Price was the first Republican to craft a replacement plan for Obamacare. He unveiled the Empowering Patients First Act in 2009 and has introduced the proposal in each Congress since then.

The proposal repeals the Affordable Care Act and replaces it with what Price said are “patient-centered solutions.”

The plan also creates a system of tax credits based on a consumer’s age. It further calls for the creation of high-risk pools at the state level and allows people to opt out of Medicare, Medicaid, Tricare, and benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Those who opt out of the federally-run programs could then purchase health insurance in the individual market and qualify for a tax credit.

Price, who was first elected to Congress in 2004, has become known for his health care credentials in his years on Capitol Hill. An orthopedic surgeon for nearly 20 years, he’ll be the first Department of Health and Human Services secretary with a medical background since Louis Wade Sullivan, who served under President George H.W. Bush, according to Modern Healthcare.

Trump and Price are in agreement on several programs the Department of Health and Human Services oversees. Both the president-elect and the Georgia Republican support creating block grants for Medicaid and allowing insurance companies to sell policies across state lines.

But Price supports Medicare reform and said earlier this month House Republicans would make it a priority in the 115th Congress.

The Budget Committee chairman favors changing Medicare from a “defined benefit” to a “defined contribution,” which means the government would give those eligible for the program financial assistance to purchase a private insurance plan.

Trump, meanwhile, said in the past he would protect Medicare and wouldn’t commit to privatizing the program, a reform supported by House Speaker Paul Ryan.

During the campaign, Price emerged as an early supporter of Trump. In May, he and eight Republican committee chairs released a statement endorsing the real estate giant.

The Georgia Republican also campaigned with Trump in the week leading up to the election, appearing alongside him at an Obamacare repeal event in Pennsylvania.

In addition to serving as the chairman of the Budget Committee, Price also sits on the Ways and Means Committee and is one of 18 members of the GOP Doctors Caucus.

He previously served as chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee and led the Republican Study Committee, a group of the House’s conservative members, during the 111th Congress.

Before his election to Congress, Price served four terms in the Georgia state Senate and became majority leader when Republicans took over the upper chamber. He also served two terms as the state Senate’s minority whip.

In addition to working as an orthopedic surgeon, Price taught at Emory University School of Medicine and was the medical director of the orthopedic clinic at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta.

]]>After Castro’s Death, Trump Seeks ‘Concessions’ From Cubahttp://dailysignal.com/2016/11/28/after-castros-death-trump-seeks-concessions-from-cuba/
Mon, 28 Nov 2016 22:35:46 +0000http://dailysignal.com/?p=300426Under the Castro regime in Cuba, Sebastian Arcos spent a year of his life in prison for trying to escape the grip of communism. But... Read More

]]>Under the Castro regime in Cuba, Sebastian Arcos spent a year of his life in prison for trying to escape the grip of communism.

But the death of Fidel Castro on Friday did not give Arcos immediate relief, because the regime that altered the course of his life remains in power.

“I have become old and cynical, so I was not particularly happy when he died—I was not sad either,” said Arcos, who spent the first 30 years of his life in Cuba before coming to Miami, where he is now the associate director of the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University.

“Unquestionably, the world is a better place today without Fidel Castro,” Arcos added in an interview with The Daily Signal.

“More importantly, even if I don’t have any hope the regime will change in the short term, as a friend said to me yesterday, nothing changes and everything changes. Nothing changes because in the short term, Raul Castro [Fidel’s brother and Cuba’s president] remains firmly in control. But everything changes because the paramount leader of the Cuban Revolution has died, and when they bury him, they will bury the Cuban Revolution with him.”

Arcos, like many Cuban-Americans and others with a stake in Cuba’s future, views Fidel Castro’s death as an inflection point in how the U.S. engages with the Communist-ruled island.

Supporters of President Barack Obama’s decision to normalize relations with Cuba hope that Fidel Castro’s death will hasten the rapprochement of the two countries. But skeptics like Arcos say Fidel Castro’s death, and the attention it is drawing, will expose the human rights abuses and oppression that he says has continued under Raul Castro’s leadership, providing an opportunity for the next U.S. administration to press harder for change.

“President-elect Donald Trump made a campaign promise here in Miami, and he has to find a way to fulfill that campaign promise,” Arcos said.

Trump has sent mixed signals on his potential Cuba policy.

During a campaign event in Miami in September, Trump accused the Obama administration of making “concessions” to Cuba and he said he would reverse the president’s actions, many made by executive authority, unless “the Castro regime meets our demands.”

Monday, Trump took to Twitter to clarify his policy, writing: “If Cuba is unwilling to make a better deal for the Cuban people, the Cuban/American people, and the U.S. as a whole, I will terminate deal.”

But Trump also spoke positively of Obama’s policy early in his campaign, saying restarting diplomatic relations with Cuba was “fine.”

Obama’s Dramatic Change

In December of 2014, Obama announced a renewal of diplomatic ties with Cuba that included a loosening of decades-old restrictions on travel, trade, investment, and remittances.

Within a year, the countries reopened their embassies.

It is now easier for Americans to visit Cuba and send money and goods there, and also for American businesses to establish a presence on the island. Obama recently used executive action to expand the legal importation of Cuban cigars and rum by Americans who visit the island.

Hundreds of commercial flights go to and from the island weekly, with U.S. airlines scheduled to join this week.

Obama could not end the trade embargo against Cuba. Only Congress can do that.

Ricardo Herrero, the executive director of #CubaNow, an advocacy group that supports Obama’s policy change, said that the opening to Cuba has encouraged private industry and promoted free expression from reform-minded citizens.

“It would be a grave mistake to pull back now,” Herrero told The Daily Signal in an interview. “By demanding concessions, all you are doing is empowering the regime and enabling them to go to reformers on the island and say, ‘See, they [the U.S.] are trying to govern us already.’ That’s why we need to remain strong. Let’s not give more oxygen to those who want to continue fighting the Cold War forever.”

‘Important Opportunity’

If Trump moves forward with changing Obama’s Cuba policy, he will find influential allies in the Republican-controlled House and Senate.

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., told The Daily Signal that he and other Cuban-American Republicans in Congress are “so encouraged” by Trump’s public statements regarding Cuba.

He said he would push for Trump to “eliminate” all of Obama’s actions unless Cuba meets certain conditions, including freeing all political prisoners “without exception,” allowing for “basic freedoms,” and starting the process “toward multiparty elections.”

“Let’s help the internal opposition,” Diaz-Balart said. “Let’s stand with them, and encourage and legitimize them, as opposed to what Obama has done to legitimize the dictatorship that oppresses those folks. This is a very important opportunity for the president-elect to do an awful lot of good for the prospects of a free Cuba.”

“I am hopeful he [Trump] will come out on the side of his earlier statements that were pro-engagement and question the validity of a 50-year policy that has not brought about change,” Sanford told The Daily Signal in an interview. “I have no problem with the idea of asking for more. If one can come up with a better deal, we should. What I would hope not to see is the perfect being the enemy of the good. Wherever you are in the debate, people are foreseeing change in Cuba. The question is how do we get there.”

Eric Hershberg, the director of the Center for Latin American and Latino Studies at American University, said Trump has the authority to walk back much of Obama’s Cuba policy.

He argues that in this uncertain period after Fidel Castro’s death, and the election of Trump as U.S. president, Raul Castro and his communist regime may be more tempted to act out in the short term.

“Fidel leaving the scene may accentuate the regime’s message to the Americans that we are still here and will act in our interests, not yours,” Hershberg said. “The Cubans aren’t going to give any concessions at all. The Cubans have never gave concessions since the revolution and they won’t start now.”

]]>As a candidate for president, Donald Trump advocated a restrictive U.S. policy toward refugee resettlement and other forms of legal immigration.

In his speech accepting the Republican nomination for president, Trump said he would suspend immigration from countries that are “compromised by terrorism.”

Trump, when he assumes office in January, will find that he has significant authority to fulfill his pledge.

“He can decide how many refugees we take and from what regions of the world we take them,” said Kevin Appleby, senior director of international migration policy at the Center for Migration Studies in New York, in an interview with The Daily Signal. “He has a pretty broad brush to pick and choose who he thinks is worthy of admission to the United States.”

Trump has not clarified his position on refugees since becoming president-elect.

But throughout his campaign, Trump targeted the U.S. refugee resettlement program, arguing the government’s vetting system needed to be tougher, especially for Syrians fleeing war and terrorism.

The Obama administration says the current vetting process for Syrian refugees is the most stringent screening for any category of legal immigrant. The process can take up to two years and involves in-person interviews, health tests, and other security checks with multiple government agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department.

About 14,500 Syrians have been resettled in the U.S. since last October. There is no known case of a Syrian refugee being involved in a terror plot in the U.S. In January, the U.S. government arrested two men on terrorism-related charges who came to the U.S. as refugees from Iraq.

In September, the Obama administration announced that it wants to resettle 110,000 refugees from around the world—including a substantial number of Syrians—for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1. That’s up from 85,000 refugees last year.

The Refugee Act of 1980 gives the U.S. president unilateral power over how many refugees the country admits each fiscal year, and where they come from.

Congress is only consulted in the process and does not get an up or down vote on the numbers.

Traditionally, the refugee resettlement gets broad bipartisan support, but this year, many Republicans protested President Barack Obama’s pledge to raise the number admitted to the U.S.

“This has become a politically correct program where we are led to believe that we have to take refugees from all over the world no matter how dangerous the threat is,” said Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas, in an interview with The Daily Signal. “We are out here trying to keep Americans safe. That is our No. 1 duty we have as elected officials.”

Babin has sponsored legislation pausing refugee resettlement from “terrorism hot spots” to the U.S.

He was among 37 Republicans who tried, but failed, to attach language to a must-pass spending bill passed in September that would have blocked federal funding to refugees from Syria, other countries in the Middle East, and North Africa until national security officials could guarantee that terrorists cannot infiltrate the screening process.

“Trump has the authority to do what we in Congress could not do, and suspend this program immediately, particularly from Islamic terrorist hot spots,” Babin said. “I urge him to follow through on his campaign promise.”

Refugee and immigration experts say Trump can indeed use his executive powers immediately to keep Obama’s 110,000 refugee target number for this fiscal year, or reduce it. He can even pause the program completely, or restrict refugees from specific countries.

“Trump has the authority to resettle 110,000 like Obama or zero refugees,” said Matthew La Corte, an immigration policy analyst at the Niskanen Center. “That is his decision with consultation with Congress and the State Department.”

Trump can also limit other forms of legal immigration to the U.S., as he and his incoming administration have hinted they may try and do.

Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union” this weekend, Reince Priebus, the incoming White House chief of staff, said, “We’re going to temporarily suspend immigration from [certain countries or regions] until a better vetting system is put in place.”

Under U.S. law, the president has authority to use a proclamation to suspend the entry of “any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States [who] would be detrimental to the interests of the United States.”

Over six decades ago, Congress, worried that communists would try and enter the U.S., authorized this executive authority as part of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952.

Obama used this power in 2011 when he issued a presidential proclamation suspending the entry of “any alien who planned, ordered, assisted, aided, and abetted, committed or otherwise participated in” war crimes or other violations of humanitarian law.

But immigration experts say the power has not been applied as broadly as Trump has proposed.

For example, early in his campaign, Trump called for “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the U.S.” He later removed the reference to religion and instead proposed barring people from regions of the world with a “proven history of terrorism” against the U.S. and the West.

“The statutory authority is clearly there for Trump to do what he said he would do,” said William Stock, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, in an interview with The Daily Signal. “But the power under the law has usually been used in a case-by-case manner, impacting narrow classes of people. The broader the assertion of the authority, the more likely a successful court challenge against it.”

Opponents of Trump’s proposals, including refugee advocates and national security experts, say that limiting U.S. assistance to the most vulnerable of immigrants is detrimental to the fight against terrorism.

They say that such a withdrawal from the world makes the case for terrorist groups such as the Islamic State that seek to turn Muslims against the West.

“We are at a pivotal moment in our country,” Appleby said. “If we start closing our doors, pulling up the drawbridge will undermine our national interests. It gives the extremists more power to demonize us and use it as a propaganda tool. We are looked at as a humanitarian leader, and if we withdraw that commitment, the rest of the world will follow and then we will really have a crisis on our hands.”

]]>President-elect Donald Trump has selected billionaire philanthropist Betsy DeVos, a relatively unknown figure on the national scene, to head the U.S. Department of Education.

“Betsy DeVos is a brilliant and passionate education advocate,” Trump said in a press release. “Under her leadership we will reform the U.S. education system and break the bureaucracy that is holding our children back so that we can deliver world-class education and school choice to all families.”

Although she has little name recognition, DeVos is well-known in the education world, having donated and served on the board for a number of school choice nonprofits.

“I am honored to accept this responsibility to work with the president-elect on his vision to make American education great again,” DeVos said in a statement. “The status quo in education is not acceptable. Together, we can work to make transformational change that ensures every student in America has the opportunity to fulfill his or her highest potential.”

DeVos is a relatively safe pick for conservatives who favor school choice programs such as vouchers that would enable low-income families to send their children to a private school of their choice, however, she is a polarizing figure for those who support the traditional public school system.

1. She does not support Common Core “period.”
Upon accepting the position of education secretary, DeVos issued a statement clarifying that she is not a supporter of Common Core “period.”

Trump’s disdain for the national standards was perhaps the most talked about education policy issue on the campaign trail, and DeVos’ opinion on the issue was previously unclear.

DeVos currently serves as head of the Foundation for Excellence in Education, which was started by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who Trump criticized for defending the national standards.

In recent years, DeVos had been quiet on the issue of Common Core, but upon accepting the position in the Trump administration, she changed that, writing:

I do support high standards, strong accountability, and local control. When governors such as John Engler, Mike Huckabee, and Mike Pence were driving the conversation on voluntary high standards driven by local voices, it all made sense.

Have organizations that I have been a part of supported Common Core? Of course. But that’s not my position. Sometimes it’s not just students who need to do their homework.

However, along the way, it got turned into a federalized boondoggle.

Above all, I believe every child, no matter their ZIP code or their parents’ jobs, deserves access to a quality education.

2. She strongly supports school vouchers.
DeVos believes that every child should have the opportunity for a “top-notch education,” regardless of their family’s financial background.

For that reason, she and her husband advocated a ballot proposal in 2000 that would have amended the Michigan Constitution to create a school voucher program that allows taxpayer funds to follow students to private schools. After hitting a roadblock, she and her husband formed a political action committee to support voucher-friendly candidates on the national level.

According to Chalkbeat, “the group counted a 121-60 win-loss record.” Since then, she’s played a major role in expanding the number of school choice programs available to students across the country.

3. She also supports charter schools.
DeVos and her husband have been actively involved in promoting charter schools for over two decades, and helped to pass Michigan’s first charter school law in the state.

Charter schools are publicly funded and open to all students, but able to operate with more autonomy than traditional public schools.

There are currently 275 charter schools in Michigan, according to the American Federation for Children, some of which have been criticized for their lack of accountability and government oversight. Some blame the DeVos family for contributing to that lack of oversight. “The DeVos influence is one reason that Michigan’s charter sector is among the least regulated in the country,” Chalkbeat reported.

4. She’s an outsider in Washington, but an insider in Michigan.
Although dealing with the inner workings of Congress will be new to DeVos, she’s well-familiar with the political system, having served as chair of the Michigan Republican Party.

Her husband, Dick DeVos, was elected to the State Board of Education in 1990 and ran for governor of Michigan in 2006, losing to Democrat Jennifer Granholm.

5. She supports homeschooling.
In a 2013 interview with Philanthropy Roundtable, DeVos voiced her support for homeschooling. She said:

Homeschooling represents another perfectly valid educational option. We’ve seen more and more people opt for homeschooling, including in urban areas. What you’re seeing is parents who are fed up with their lack of power to do anything about where their kids are assigned to go to school. To the extent that homeschooling puts parents back in charge of their kids’ education, more power to them.

6. She funds a variety of nonprofits.
DeVos and her husband are founders of the Dick and Betsy DeVos Family Foundation, where they support “organizations and programs that focus on community, education, the arts, justice, and leadership.” She serves as chairman of the American Federation for Children and the Alliance for School Choice, according to Philanthropy Roundtable.

Some organizations the DeVos family has supported include the Foundation for Excellence in Education, ArtPrize, West Michigan Aviation Academy, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, American Enterprise Institute, Mars Hill Bible Church, and The Heritage Foundation, which is the parent organization of The Daily Signal.

DeVos is the daughter of Edgar and Elsa Prince. Her father was an extremely successful engineer, developer, and industrialist, who founded Prince Corp. DeVos’ in-laws, Richard and Helen DeVos, are longtime personal supporters of The Heritage Foundation.

Richard DeVos is the co-founder of Amway, which is now one of the largest and most successful companies in the world. In recognition of their support, The Heritage Foundation named the DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society in their honor. Through their family foundation, Betsy and her husband Dick DeVos have continued the family’s support of The Heritage Foundation over the last decade.

7. She chose to send her children to private Christian schools.
Growing up, DeVos attended Holland Christian High School in Michigan, and graduated from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration and political science. She also chose to send her children to private Christian schools, according to Chalkbeat.

This story has been updated to reflect DeVos’ most recent statement on Common Core.

]]>What You Need to Know About Gov. Nikki Haley, Trump’s Pick for UN Ambassadorhttp://dailysignal.com/2016/11/23/what-you-need-to-know-about-gov-nikki-haley-trumps-pick-for-un-ambassador/
Wed, 23 Nov 2016 16:24:32 +0000http://dailysignal.com/?p=300041President-elect Donald Trump has tapped South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Trump’s transition team announced Wednesday.... Read More

]]>President-elect Donald Trump has tapped South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Trump’s transition team announced Wednesday.

“Gov. Haley has a proven track record of bringing people together regardless of background or party affiliation to move critical policies forward for the betterment of her state and our country,” Trump said in a statement Wednesday. “She is also a proven dealmaker, and we look to be making plenty of deals. She will be a great leader representing us on the world stage.”

Haley, considered a rising star in the Republican Party, was elected to serve as governor of the Palmetto State in 2011. She is the first female and the first minority to hold the post.

The governor accepted the ambassador position Wednesday morning and said she felt she had a “sense of duty” to do so.

“When the president believes you have a major contribution to make to the welfare of our nation, and to our nation’s standing in the world, that is a calling that is important to heed,” Haley said in a statement.

The president-elect’s pick of Haley to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations also makes her Trump’s first female Cabinet selection.

Haley will remain governor until the Senate confirms her nomination.

The daughter of Indian immigrants, Haley, 44, campaigned for Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., during the primaries, appearing with him often before her state’s contest in February. After Rubio withdrew from the race, she endorsed Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

She was viewed as a possible vice presidential pick during the primaries.

Haley didn’t shy away from criticizing Trump during his time on the campaign trail. Though she didn’t mention his name explicitly, Haley took aim at the former businessman when she delivered the Republican response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union in January.

During her speech, Haley encouraged her fellow Republicans to move away from following the “angriest voices,” which many viewed as a criticism of Trump.

For his part, the president-elect hasn’t always been kind to Haley. In January, Trump said the South Carolina governor’s stance on immigration—a cornerstone of his campaign—was “very weak,” and in March, he took to Twitter to criticize Haley.

Despite trading jabs, Haley said in October she would vote for Trump, and the two were friends prior to the election. At an annual meeting of the Republican Governors Association earlier this month, Haley said she was “giddy” about the GOP controlling both chambers of Congress and the White House.

“Our country faces enormous challenges here at home and internationally, and the president-elect has asked me to join his team and serve the country we love as the next ambassador to the United Nations,” Haley said in a statement announcing her selection to the post.

Haley was praised for her leadership after a shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, where a white supremacist killed nine people during a prayer service last year.

In the days following the horrific shooting, Haley called for the Confederate flag to be removed from the grounds of the state Capitol.

“These grounds are a place that everybody should feel a part of,” she said last year. “What I realized now more than ever is people were driving by and felt hurt and pain. No one should feel pain.”

From 2005 to 2011, Haley served in the South Carolina House of Representatives representing Lexington County, and then went on to serve as governor.

Haley has been praised for her work in bringing more jobs to South Carolina and, according to Trump’s transition team, brought the state’s unemployment rate to a 15-year low.

However, she hasn’t held a role in the federal government and doesn’t have much experience in foreign policy.

According to The Post and Courier, the governor’s work abroad centers mostly on her negotiations with international companies looking to move into the Palmetto State. She’s also led seven trade missions overseas during her time as governor.

If the Senate confirms Haley, she’ll succeed Samantha Power, who became the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in 2013.

Haley was born in Bamberg, South Carolina, to Indian immigrants and grew up working in her family’s business. She graduated from Clemson University, and married Michael Haley, a captain in the Army National Guard who deployed to Afghanistan for nearly a year in 2013. They have two children.

]]>We Looked at Cabinet Picks Over the Last 40 Years. Here’s How Trump Stacks Up So Far.http://dailysignal.com/2016/11/22/we-looked-at-cabinet-picks-over-the-last-40-years-heres-how-trump-stacks-up-so-far/
Tue, 22 Nov 2016 22:30:11 +0000http://dailysignal.com/?p=299772A Daily Signal analysis of Cabinet nominations dating back 40 years reveals that President-elect Donald Trump is outpacing all of his predecessors, including George H.W.... Read More

]]>A Daily Signal analysis of Cabinet nominations dating back 40 years reveals that President-elect Donald Trump is outpacing all of his predecessors, including George H.W. Bush, who was a sitting vice president at the time of his election.

Trump’s selection of Jeff Sessions as attorney general on Nov. 18 made him the second-fastest president-elect in recent history to pick a Cabinet nominee. He added another on Nov. 23 with Besty DeVos as education secretary.

In the fourth week of the transition, Trump has named five nominees: Rep. Tom Price at the Department of Health and Human Services, Elaine Chao at the Department of Transportation, Steven Mnuchin at the Treasury Department, Wilbur Ross at the Commerce Department, and retired Marine Gen. James Mattis at the Department of Defense.

The speed of Trump’s choices is even more surprising given that Bush enjoyed the continuity of Republican government in 1988; two of Bush’s three nominations in November 1988 were holdovers from the Reagan administration. With his selection of Price and Chao, Trump is now the fastest president-elect in 40 years to fill four Cabinet roles.

Trump continues to meet with leaders across the political spectrum to discuss roles in his administration. The meetings have drawn much media fanfare, prompting The New York Times to suggest “the pace of announcements from Trump Tower has slowed to a crawl” after several days without one.

In addition to his Cabinet picks, Trump has announced that South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley will be U.N. ambassador, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn will be his national security adviser, and Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., will head the CIA. Those selections, as well as the choice of Reince Priebus and Stephen K. Bannon for White House roles, weren’t included in The Daily Signal’s analysis because they are not Cabinet-level positions.

Using historical information from the U.S. Senate (1976-2000 and 2008), The Daily Signal found that President Jimmy Carter made a total of 11 Cabinet announcements during his transition, starting in week five. The executive branch has grown to 15 Cabinet secretaries today.

]]>Colleges Look to Create Sanctuary Campuses for Illegal Immigrant Studentshttp://dailysignal.com/2016/11/22/colleges-look-to-create-sanctuary-campuses-for-illegal-immigrant-students/
Tue, 22 Nov 2016 19:07:27 +0000http://dailysignal.com/?p=299769Presidents from at least two colleges have pledged to make their campuses safe havens for illegal immigrant students. “We steadfastly support all members of our... Read More

]]>Presidents from at least two colleges have pledged to make their campuses safe havens for illegal immigrant students.

“We steadfastly support all members of our community regardless of their immigration status,” John Kroger, president of Reed College in Portland, Oregon, said last week in an announcement that his college will be a sanctuary campus.

“My mom brought me to the United States at a very young age,” an illegal immigrant student at Drake told KCCI 8 News. “We really didn’t have the resources to apply for any sort of visa to be able to come to the United States legally.”

While the “sanctuary college” definition may differ from college to college, policy demands include items such as not assisting Immigration and Customs Enforcement in investigations on the immigration status of students and helping all students financially, including those in the country illegally.

“Across the country, many are calling for their universities to become sanctuary campuses,” Michael Roth, president of Wesleyan University in Connecticut, wrote on Nov. 20, declaring Wesleyan a sanctuary campus. “The model is the ‘sanctuary city,’ like Austin, New York City, Chicago, and dozens of other municipalities, which have declared their intention not to cooperate with federal officials seeking to deport residents simply because they lack appropriate immigration documentation.”

Around the nation, there are around 300 jurisdictions at the state, county, and city level that do not cooperate with government immigration enforcement policies, according to the Center for Immigration Studies.

Over 100 colleges had walkouts last week in protest of illegal immigrant deportation policies for students, the New York Post reported.

“A handful of students on some campuses are demanding some sort of campus-wide policy that shields illegal aliens from law enforcement, but mostly it’s just a protest that is unlikely to go anywhere,” Jon Feere, a legal policy analyst at the Center for Immigration Studies, told The Daily Signal. Feere added:

We’ll have to see how this unfolds, but these campuses in many ways are already involved in a relationship with the federal government when it comes to immigration and students, particularly in the case of foreign students. There’s an information sharing process that does take place. I think it will be very difficult for these campuses to shield individuals who are in violation of the law from federal authorities should the government choose to deport somebody.

“I think it will be very difficult for these campuses to shield individuals who are in violation of the law.” —@JonFeere

Feere says these protests and sanctuary campuses are more of a “publicity stunt.”

“I suspect that if we were to get to a point where law enforcement needed to deport an individual on the campus, whether it’s a student or an employee, that the campuses would largely comply,” Feere said.

“For example, even the president of Reed College in his letter acknowledges that he will cooperate with federal law enforcement when there is a direct court order present,” Feere added.

“Undocumented students are currently protected from deportation by an executive order signed by President Obama, which also allows them to work and obtain driver’s licenses,” Fortune reported.

“More than 90 college and university presidents have signed a statement calling for the continuation and expansion of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program,” according to Inside Higher Ed. The program is available for illegal immigrants that arrived in the United States before they turned 16 years old.

In the Reed College president’s declaration that the school would be a sanctuary campus, he said the college will “provide institutional financial aid to make up for the federal aid that these students are unable to apply for, such as Pell Grants.”

Students at private as well as public schools, including University of Texas-Austin and University of Wisconsin-Madison, have participated in demanding sanctuary status for their campus, according to Fusion.

“If those are public colleges that are providing in-state tuition to illegal aliens without providing the same benefits to out-of-state citizen students, not only are they violating federal immigration law, but they are penalizing Americans for being citizens and following the law,” Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation, told The Daily Signal. “The schools are rewarding those whose first act in coming to America is to break our laws.”

“These public colleges—as well as private college engaging in the same ‘sanctuary’ behavior—are showing a fundamental contempt for the rule of law, which is the heart of our democracy and what has long distinguished us from the dangerous and lawless places that exist around the world,” von Spakovsky said.